ABSTRACT
Having served in the French Navy as a doctor, Victor Segalen (1878–1919) travelled extensively in Polynesia and China. This chapter examines Segalen’s observations of the Other in his posthumously published book, Essai sur l'exotisme (Essay on Exoticism, written during 1904–1918), his experiences in Equipée (1915), and his representations of China in René Leys (1917). Segalen’s travel writings transcend geographical and cultural boundaries in an attempt to understand other cultures but ultimately highlight that the switching of subject and object positions is essential to perceive one’s own limitations in understanding other cultures. It is not only impossible to know, but also impossible to go back. René Leys allegorically explores ideas of Orientalism and exoticism, while also delineating a European’s limitations in crossing cultural barriers and comprehending cultural differences amid the ‘inscrutability’ of Palace life. In trying to represent the Chinese court, its people, and other cultures, the novel also depicts the protagonist’s struggles, which result from his finding himself being defined as the Other. The novel concludes with the fall of the last Chinese Empire and the mysterious death of René Leys, leaving the ending open to interpretation.
