MARQUESAS

"In the course of this imaginary crossing of the Studio Boat, I have taken pleasure in conjuring up scenes of encounters with Stevenson, London, Gauguin and Segalen in the Marquesas. You really have to admit that it’s astonishing how these four figures (preceded by Melville) all visited what is described as the 'world’s most isolated' spot – without ever coming across one another – over a period of about twenty years, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

(…) We cannot suspect the voyages of Segalen, Gauguin or London of being motivated by notions of imperialism or profit; and I might add that I’m extremely grateful to them for helping to shake up my adolescent brain. They all abhorred colonial administration and kept the ecclesiastical mob at a distance.

(…) And yet, no doubt in spite of themselves, what remains from a reading their works sometimes merges, in our minds, with the impressions left behind by those pimps of exoticism who Segalen in fact denounced."

Extract from L'Errance et le Divers, 2018, Éditions Gallimard