Magical Allegory in Marie Darrieussecq’s novel Pig Tales (1996): Piggy Debauchery in Postcolonial France

This article presents an analysis of Marie Darrieussecq's first novel Pig Tales, which was initially published in France in 1996, where it became a bestseller. Pig Tales was subsequently translated into many languages, bringing the novel and its young French author international acclaim. In the process of making a case for reading the novel as an allegory, early sections of the article examine the ways in which Pig Tales displays allegorical characteristics. Subsequent sections consider aspects of post-feminist, postmodern and postcolonial France that Darrieussecq may be responding to, and satirising, through the use of her central allegorical trope – the representation of a human being as an animal.