Abstract EN:

The aim of the thesis entitled la representation du monde canaque dans l'oeuvre de georges baudoux (1870-1949) (representation of the kanak world in the work of georges baudoux (1870-1949) is to understand kanak civilisation as portrayed in the writings of a new caledonian author. The first approach endeavours to give legitimacy to the factors which make baudoux a genuine author and to define a "new caledonian reading pact" recognisable in "details" such as baudoux's description of history, mastery of place names, descriptions of the island and its fauna, flora and typical characters as well as their speech, without neglecting his preconceived ideas, processes, lexicon, metaphors, cliches, etc. There follows an analysis of legendes canaques (kanak legends) stressing baudoux's style peculiarities and the literary representation of kanak characters in their essence and acts. The second analytical stand point is posited on the assumption that these kanak characters can only be understood within the bounds of their sacred, mythical, ritual and warrior society. An attempt is made to define the effect of myths, the importance of rites and the organisation of symbols and warfare. But this ethnographic approach reveals as much as it conceals, stresses certain acts (feasting, transgressions, cannibalism) and puts over other points of view. The "third reading" concentrates on the moral attitude of the "white" narrator who criticises the values and beliefs of the kanaks, in the name of a racist ideology. But the work also reveals other value systems-those of the informants, and of the kanak and mixed-race characters which give the work its richness and its multiple registers.