Le voyageur étonné: François Maspero's alternative itineraries

Abstract

This article examines the alternative itineraries of four travel narratives by François Maspero, one of contemporary France's foremost travel writers: Les Passagers du Roissy-Express (1990), an innovative home tour through the Parisian suburbs; Balkans-Transit (1997), a journey through the southern Balkans in the spring of 1995, his autobiography Les Abeilles et la Guêpe (2002), and the collection of travel writings Transit & Cie (2004). Maspero's self-definition as a voyageur étonné [amazed traveller] who admires the world appears to mark him out as a very different kind of traveller from his contemporaries associated with the Pour une littérature voyageuse movement, and this article will explore the ways in which his journeys represent both a parallel and opposing trajectory. His engagement with cultural diversity is characterised by a mechanics of inclusion rather than exclusion. Instead of recounting the solitary traveller's traversal of great open spaces, Maspero's polyphonic travel narratives privilege human landscapes and give equal prominence to the voices of his travel companions and the ‘travellees’ he encounters. His narratives are haunted by the figures of refugees, migrants and exiles who remain in transit, and the article will analyse the ways in which the portrayal of these intersecting journeys implies a broader understanding of the concept of travel.