Two ways of looking at Spitzbergen : Léonie d'Aunet and Xavier Marmier from travelling on La Recherche to writing
International audience Although the Svalbard archipelago, located between 74° and 81° north latitude, is timelessly part of the northern North, its degree of northerness seems to have been higher in the first half of the nineteenth century than it is today. During this period, in the end of the &quo...
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| Other Authors: | , |
| Format: | Book Part |
| Language: | French |
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HAL CCSD
2019
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| Online Access: | https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03210311 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03210311/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03210311/file/Regards%20crois%C3%A9s%20sur%20le%20Spitzberg%20%282%29.pdf |
| Summary: | International audience Although the Svalbard archipelago, located between 74° and 81° north latitude, is timelessly part of the northern North, its degree of northerness seems to have been higher in the first half of the nineteenth century than it is today. During this period, in the end of the "Little Ice Age", the main island, Spitsbergen, is considered as "inexplorable " because of its relief, and for the general public in France, the archipelago appears to be "the northernmost land in the northern hemisphere." In the summer of 1839, the French scientific research vessel La Recherche sailed to Svalbard. On board, Léonie D'Aunet and Xavier Marmier, inspired by this unique and shared journey in the archipelago, will later write two travel stories (Voyage d’une femme au Spitzberg (1854) for Léonie d'Aunet and Lettres sur le Nord (1840) for Xavier Marmier) and a novel (Les Fiancés du Spitzberg (1858) by Marmier). The comparison of the works of these two authors who traveled in the same places at the same time reveals significant discrepancies, in both literary forms and conveyed images of the northern North. These differences can be partly explained reading Léonie d'Aunet as a female author and Xavier Marmier as a male author. Nevertheless, the present study is not about the feminine or masculine psychologies regarding their relationships with the North, but an analysis of the social constraints which weigh on Léonie d’Aunet’s viatic writing of the northern North, as well as the ways by which she overcomes them. Without claiming legitimacy as a writer of travel narratives, she manages to draw of herself the portrait of a great traveler, by exploiting the topos of a northern North hostile to women. Si l’archipel du Svalbard, situé entre 74° et 81° de latitude nord, fait intemporellement partie du Nord du Nord, son degré de nordicité semble avoir été plus élevé dans la première moitié du XIXe siècle qu’aujourd’hui. Durant cette période, située à la fin de ce que certains géologues appellent le « Petit Âge ... |
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