19th century French literature is notable for the effects of the contemporary fashion for orientalism. This fashion was greatly encouraged by Napoleon's expedition to Egypt, which inspired many scholars and artists to make as complete a record as they could of the natural and cultural features of that country, both in pictorial and verbal form. A large number of authors were fascinated by the exoticism of the Orient. Their literary treatment of the subject frequently spawned an engagement with contemporaneous erosive tendencies in their own culture.