Du marcheur au touriste : la mise en scène des Alpes dans la littérature du XIXe siècle

Abstract

The present article aims to illustrate the influence of the birth of modern tourism in the Alps on 19th-century literature. The massive presence of visitors in these mountain regions is now facilitated by the use of transports replacing traditional hiking, so that these sites, which were once a source of inspiration for the first explorers and their literary endeavors, become the ideal setting for meticulous sociological investigations. In this study, I will analyze works by Hugo, Ruskin, Labiche, and Daudet in order to outline two main attitudes towards this unprecedented social phenomenon : on the one hand, the sharp criticism of modernity ; on the other, a parodistic turn accounting also for new modes of interaction with mountain landscape.

Keywords

• Sociology of tourism
• Alpine literature
• modernity
• landscape
• walking