The endings of empire: reading for the (colonial) plot

Journal article

What can the analysis of plot patterns in colonial fiction written in the expansionist period of modern French imperialism (1880–1920) tell us about the relationship between culture and empire? Fredric Jameson notoriously argued that there is a necessary relationship between ‘Third-World’ literature and national allegory, but the notion of a necessarily allegorical reading is far more convincing in the case of colonial literature. This paper argues that colonial novels present not so much national as racial allegory, revealed through an analysis of plot and character function inspired by Vladimir Propp. Analysis of a sample of novels reveals a recurrent tragic ending to the plot arcs of French colonial-era fictions, projecting varying forms of tragic impossibility and inevitability. Racial identity is understood in terms of rigid essences, so that plots based on an attempted union almost always end in disaster. French identity is seen in terms of a fragile masculinity that is tested by sexual temptations that infringe white purity. The endings of these colonial plots thus reveal identitarian anxieties and point towards the failure of the imperial project.

Authors: Yee, J

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Journal: Modern and Contemporary France
• Publication date: 2026-04-09
• Acceptance date: 2026-01-28
• DOI: 10.1080/09639489.2026.2625460
• EISSN: 1469-9869
• ISSN: 0963-9489
• Language: English