«Je suis comme collé à la bête, faisant partie de la bête…»
«I am like stuck to the beast, being a part of the beast…»

Smara, the Desert and its Animals According to Michel Vieuchange

Author(s): Małgorzata Sokołowicz
Subject(s): Studies of Literature, French Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Michel Vieuchange; Smara; animal; desert; ecopoetics; travel
Summary/Abstract: The present paper focuses on the travel notes by Michel Vieuchange (1904-1930), a young Frenchman who decided to explore Smara, a holy Muslim city, forbidden to foreigners and situated in the middle of the desert. The aim of the paper is to analyse the travelogue from an ecopoetic perspective, that is to show how this difficult, lonely and exhausting travel (Vieuchange reaches Smara, but dies on his way back home) affects the way the traveler describes his contacts with non-humans. The paper is divided into three parts. The first one shows how Vieuchange depicts in his notes animals, and particularly flies and camels. The second reveals his attitude towards the desert and the last one focuses on the way he describes Smara.

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