Understanding a complex object
This article focuses on a little-known essay of an ethnographic, philosophical and literary nature, Le repas et l’amour chez les Mérinas (The dining and amorous customs of the Merinas), written by Jean Paulhan during a sojourn in Madagascar. I start by arguing that Paulhan’s narrative, as singular and complex as it is, is particularly relevant from the perspective of a hermeneutical sociology because of its complex uniqueness. I then focus on specific textual elements of the narrative to identify possible vectors of interpretation. In a third and final section, I draw on Paulhan’s work to advance some general propositions about an interpretive approach for the humanities, in which reflexive thinking plays an important role.