Chapter 6 Albert de Pouvourvilleâs Occultisme Colonial
äºOccult East AsiaSearch for other papers by Davide Marino in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Albert de Pouvourville (1862â1939), better known by his nom de plume Matgioi, was one of the most noticeable characters of the nineteenth-century French occult milieu. In addition to his prominence in fin-de-siècle occult Paris, de Pouvourville also served as a soldier in Indochina, and after the end of his military career he continued to play an important role in French colonialism. This chapter aims to describe both de Pouvourvilleâs occultist and colonialist production and argues that they should be understood as two parts of a coherent intellectual trajectory, characterised by two fundamental elements of de Pouvourvilleâs worldview: âelitismâ and âcolonial Darwinism.â From gender and race to initiation and opium consumption, de Pouvourvilleâs âdiscourse on the Far Eastâ is a form of âcolonial occultismâ: a peculiar mix of imperialist hegemonic aspirations and spiritual thirst for âthe wisdom of the East.â