How does the introduction build tension and anticipation?

In the first essay included in the Introduction, Joan DeJean from the University of Pennsylvania discusses the ways that the French Revolution affected Claire de Duras, the author of Ourika. She tells how Duras initially told her story in her salon, and as a result, was urged to print the story. The fact that Duras published Ourika, and that she did so both privately and anonymously piques the reader's interest and curiousity. The fact that Duras saw herself as immune from the laws of the Black Code, which she flouted, immediately reveals her to be a rebel.... to be different from what we would expected. Blacks in France were forbidden many rights, but Ourika believed herself to be like the French aristocrats.... at least until she was forced to accept the racial differences and prejudices that permeated the society in which she was raised. It is even more astounding to note that Ourika is the first black heroine in a novel set in Europe and the first black female narrator in French literature, and this demonstrate Duras' daring and originality, especially given her high social status and how this could have been negatively impacted by her fictional work.