Conclusion

Abstract

Abstract This final chapter delineates the conceptual progression from the operative but transitional concept of the ‘White writer’ to the aesthetic practice of ‘White writing’ or ‘l’écrire-blanc’. An overview of the formal features, functions, and aesthetic dispositions through which race and colonialism are made manifest in White-authored literary works coalesces into a non-normative and replicable model of analysis based on seven aesthetic types that also account for the difference between artistic value and ethical worth. Seizing upon the significance of this political and artistic moment (Kairos) which sees highly visible White writers engaging with the postcolonial subject matter, Fictions of Race in Contemporary French Literature: French Writers, White Writing offers a kairetic reading that overcomes the divisions introduced in literary institutions by ideological assumptions and political hierarchies, marking an important step towards a common library of literature in French.