En France

Behind the pseudonym Marius-Ary Leblond were Georges Athénas and Aimé Merlo, cousins, brothers-in-law and inseparable friends, both natives of Réunion. Together they pursued a remarkably fruitful literary, journalistic and critical career, becoming champions of Creole literature and celebrants of the French colonial empire. En France illustrates this overseas perspective on the metropole: the story of a young man from Réunion discovering Paris and the “continent,” the novel blends exoticism, social analysis and questions of identity. This singular duo would go on to publish some fifty works — travel narratives, essays, novels, art criticism — and remain a landmark in the history of colonial letters.

Rare in first printing.

From the libraries of Goncourt Hubert Person (bookplate) and Gérard Pouguet (bookplate).