Contes Américains

These three tales, hailed by Diderot among others, but unpublished for over a century (and in one case for nearly two centuries), are a fictional exploration of Otherness and the intercultural set in the New World, either among native Americans (Abenakis, Iroquois) or runaway slaves in Jamaica befriended by Quakers. They argue powerfully for a reassessment of the philosophe Saint-Lambert, since they represent a significant contribution to the anti-slavery debate of the time and to a consideration of cultural relativity, revitalised by recent postcolonial discourses.

This title is Volume 99 in the series Exeter French Texts/Textes littéraires. It includes an introduction, select bibliography and essential notes, all in French.

Frontispice: "Titre-planche" du Traite de la couleur de la peau humaine de Claude-Nicolas Le Cat, Amsterdam, 1765, ii; INTRODUCTION; Introduction, v; Portrait (anonyme) de Saint-Lambert, vi; L'Abenaki, ix; Carte de l'Amerique septentrionale, 1743, x; Zimeo, xiv; Les Deux Amis: conte iroquois, xxiv; Chutes du Niagara, Hennepin, 1698, Davies, 1768, xxviii; Poemes en prose, xxx; Un ecrivain genereux, xxxiii; Note technique, xxxv; Bibliographie selective, xxxvii; Dessin de Pessin, xl; CONTES AMERICAINS; L'ABENAKI, 3; ZIMEO, 7; LES DEUX AMIS: CONTE IROQUOIS, 25; ANNEXES; A Commentaire sur le frontispice, 53; B Extraits des Incas de Marmontel, 55; C Note de Saint-Lambert a un vers des Saisons, 57; D Saint-Lambert, Reflexions sur... l'etat des Negres, 60; E Extraits des Lettres iroquoises de Maubert de Gouvest, 69; F Memoire (anonyme) sur les Iroquois, 74; suivi d'extraits du journal de Bougainville, 80; G Preceptes de Saint-Lambert sur l'amitie, 81.

Roger Little is Profesor of French at Trinity College, Dublin.