La place des colonies dans l'espace culturel de la France du XIXe au XXe siècle

This article aims at emphasizing the paradoxical position of the cultural imperium built by France over two Centuries. Whereas the one set up by the British follows the boundaries of its Empire and extends over its historical colonies, that of France is radically different. Curiously it is much more in South America than in Africa that XIX th Century French literature was read, in its original version or translated and it is on that continent that the French Theory or French culture are considered as references, when they are not taken as models. As for the writers coming from the former French colonies, it is always in Paris that they come for recognition – a cover page of Le Seuil or Gallimard – which will give them true fame in their own country.