Exploration touristique des rivières de France, entre description et mythification (1904-1924)

Abstract

Travel stories constitute a literature that reveals the development of nautical tourism. The rediscovery of French rivers, carried out by well-off city dwellers, is based on myths about the return to nature and the personification of the elements. It’s a matter of highlighting the feat of these townsmen, who leave the cities and face nature and rural life. The confrontation between an idealized world and a territory shows through the stories. The development of the rivers constitutes the visible part of the relationship between the city dwellers and nature. The space to explore must allow the city dwellers to go in for an activity closely related to nature. But this space should not take the features of the city he has just left.

Keywords

• travel stories
• tourism
• landscape
• river
• nature
• myth