Jean-Phillipe Mathy: Extrême-Occident: French Intellectuals and America. 1993. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 307 pp.

Abstract

What is true of student travelers is true of any sojourner, and of anyone who comes in contact with a foreign culture. Jean-Philippe Mathy’s Extrême-Occident: French Intellectuals and America shows how the educated elite of France has used another country as a screen on which to project its ideas and ideals, as well as its phobias and prejudices. Although first published 10 years ago, this study is newly relevant. It is useful to be reminded of the long-standing background against which American actions are viewed by the French. More than an actual nation or national culture, “America” carries the weight of its meaning. America is idealized as an “incarnated idea” of freedom, prosperity, egalitarianism and pleasure, and it is vilified to the extent that it does not fulfill its own ideals or those projected on it.