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This short romance takes place in Senegal before the French Revolution, at the time of the slave trade, and it sketches an unhappy love story. The plot is rather conventional yet it is quite interesting as it debunks gender and race stereotyping. In arguing that the slave trade should be wound up and fair commercial ventures established in Africa, the author is ahead of her time. African labour should produce sugar in Africa rather then in Saint-Domingue, Mme de Staël suggests, and Africa should join in a new kind of trade relationship with Europe: one based on human values.
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