Eccentric Pleasure as Power: The Taste of the Colonies in Rachilde’s La jongleuse

Abstract: This article interrogates Rachilde’s use of overseas experiences as a means to empower her female protagonist, Eliante, with a form of autonomy that exceeds the limits of the Hexagon. Set during a period of significant colonial expansion as well as French cultural domination, Eliante’s taste for foreign objects, food, and practices threatens nationalist views and patriarchal systems in Belle Époque France. Indeed, her knowledge of international traditions endows her with a degree of influential power in her Parisian society, and yet, she prefers to forsake the métropole in pursuit of otherworldly pleasures.