VOYAGES DE MICHEL LEIRIS
MICHEL LEIRIS’ TRAVELS

Summary/Abstract: Our paper aims at understanding how travelling shaped Michel Leiris’ life and work. For Leiris, travelling is first a therapeutic escape, which enables him to overcome personal hardships by breaking away from his environment. Dissatisfied with the nature of his travels, he searches for another way to travel by taking up ethnography, expecting that it will provide him with an opportunity to establish an authentic contact with others. Disillusioned by an ethnographic mission in Africa, he comes to realise that true contact can only be achieved through a common fight against colonialism. Disappointed by his numerous travels, he finally commits to a one-way journey by attempting to commit suicide.

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