En France

Behind the pseudonym Marius-Ary Leblond stand Georges Athénas and Aimé Merlo, cousins, brothers-in-law and inseparable friends, both born in Réunion. Together they pursued a remarkably prolific career as novelists, journalists and critics, becoming champions of Creole literature and celebrated advocates of the French colonial empire. En France illustrates this overseas perspective on the metropole: the story of a young Réunionnais discovering Paris and the “continent,” the novel combines exoticism, social analysis and a reflection on identity. This singular literary duo went on to publish some fifty works — travel narratives, essays, novels, art criticism — and remains a landmark in the history of colonial French letters.

Rare in the first printing.

From the “Prix Goncourt” library of Gérard Pouguet, with bookplate.