Morlaquisme et Morlaques dans la littérature française

This paper on intellectual history aims to describe the phenomenon of Morlaquism, a fascinating subject for men of letters in the 18th and 19th centuries. Starting from the fi rst introduction of Morlachs in French literature, we will try to demonstrate how the Morlach theme obtains a warm welcome from the metropolitan public. We shall also see how the same points to the danger of creating ideas about the Other based on alleged Western cultural superiority; beliefs that led to the justifi cation of the colonization of South Slavic and African countries (Michelet; Ferry, Hugo), thus opening new research perspectives in the context of postmodernist and postcolonial critiques.