DIVERSES REPRÉSENTATIONS DE LA GRÉCITÉ CHEZ LES VOYAGEURS FRANÇAIS EN GRÈCE (XVI–XX SIÈCLES)
DIVERSE REPRESENTATIONS OF GRAECITY IN THE NARRATIVES OF FRENCH TRAVELERS TO GREECE (16TH-20TH CENTURIES)

Summary/Abstract: The numerous French travelers to Greece during the period from the Renaissance to modern times provide us with important views on Greeks as well as on many aspects of their life and civilization. These travelers were writers who visited the historical sites and the natural beauties of the country, observed the physical appearance, the character, the habits and the morals of the Greek inhabitants, and, to a lesser or greater degree, came into contact with them. Their impressions regarding Greeks and Greece are recorded in their travel narratives, a particular form of literature that is characteristic of its thematic heterogeneity and aesthetic diversity. This article is focused on a critical and comparative study of numerous images, familiar or strange, realistic or romantic, more or less subjective, and often controversial during the aforementioned period of time. Within the numerous travel accounts, the representation(s) of Greek otherness can reflect the variety of ideological and aesthetic perspectives vis-à-vis different types of travel writers. Considering their socio-cultural identity, they pursue their own travel objectives and thematic areas through various aesthetic forms. The in-depth analysis of different images of graecity provided through this abundance of authentic testimony is also indicative of the will of the French travelers to approach or distance themselves from the foreign people and foreign cultural code.

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