ABSTRACT
The Pondicherry of the eighteenth and twentieth century witnessed the French identity growing into its regional identity, so much so that it blurred the idea of ‘one nation’ for the elite. When the French colonial rule was lost partially and then completely, the post-colonial situation became a breeding ground for regional identity crisis and found expression in literary renditions. This chapter looks at the portrayal of the elite identity crisis and then assesses the receding transnational French culture of Pondicherry in Sebastian Cortes’ photography and essay compilation, Pondicherry. The chapter argues that texts like these establish that the receding transnational identity in Pondicherry drew a parallel in the receding regional identity, thereby leading to an upshot of a fragmented present with an uncertain idea of the nation.
