Abstract: This study delves into Giraudoux’s well-known and lesser-known literary sources, from polemical eighteenth century works to accounts written by the discoverers of Tahiti. Informed by various sources, notably the work of Diderot, Giraudoux’s three themes of “work, property, and morality” reflect—through the prism of his own imagination—the key features that the discoverers were struck by. While his perspective may not be as acerbic as Diderot’s, it is nevertheless uncompromising in its criticism of British colonialism and colonialism generally.
