Praised by Voltaire and admired by Pushkin, variste Parny (1753-1814) was born on the island of Runion, which is east of Madagascar, and educated in France. His life as a soldier and government administrator allowed him to travel to Brazil, Africa, and India. Though from the periphery of France's colonial empire, he ultimately became a member of the Acadmie Franaise. Despite his reaching that pinnacle of respectability, some of his poetry was banned after his death. This edition includes poems from the Posies rotiques and lgies , which established Parny's reputation; the Chansons madcasses ("Madagascar Songs"), which were influential in the development of the prose poem; five of his published letters, written in a mixture of prose and verse; the narrative poem Le Voyage de Cline ; and selections from his sardonic, anticlerical later poetry. A substantial introduction discusses Parny's poetry in connection with its literary context and the themes of gender, race, and postcoloniality.