À partir de la paire France-Brésil, réflexions sur la contribution de la litterature de voyage pour la construction d'imaginaires géographiques

Abstract

Emerging from the contact with the other, travel literature presents itself as a welcoming space for self and hetero-representations, with a significant potential impact on the audience-reader not only by the means of different media but also by the curious benevolence of its readers. In these brief notes, we aim to reflect on the role of travel narrative in the construction of geographical imaginary, thus meaning « (...) l'ensemble de représentations, images, symboles ou mythes porteurs de sens par lesquels une société (ou un sujet) se projette dans l'espace » (Dupuy & Puyo, 2015: 21). It is thus a question of looking at, on the one hand, the emergence and the subsequent circulation of stereotypes, and, on the other hand, the possibility of redescription, considering characterizing patterns of travel literature.