ABSTRACTS

_Le Guide du Routard_ : A claim for a « voyage-monde » ?

Claire Keith
(Marist College)

Albert Londres and Alexandra David Neel; Horatio Quiroga , Bruce Chatwin and Monica Ali; Moussa Ag Asarid, Corto Maltese, Naomi Klein in French translation; Nancy Huston, Amadou Hampatê Bâ, as well as the calendar for the latest festival « Etonnants Voyageurs », referenced as le rendez-vous désormais incontournable pour les amoureux de la littérature et du cinéma de voyage.»



With such recommendations in the 'Livres de route' section of its website, the classic travel guide le Guide du Routard has clearly expanded its mission since its early beginnings as a French backpacker's bible with its trademark drawing of a mustachioed, blue-jeaned globe-trotter. As the concept of a Littérature-monde is currently contrasted provocatively to its English counterpart of World Literature, it can be observed that the Guide du Routard has similarly and for now decades worked to position itself against its widely successful English counterpart the Lonely Planet series.



When, in the sixties, wanderlust and travel literature found a new breed of practitioners in the West, the English-speaking world took an early lead in producing writers to establish fresh references for a new travel culture in the making. As writers such as Chatwin or Theroux soared to the top of the best-selling lists, a small book, South East Asia on a Shoe String, was reaching cult status among the backpackers of the world, eventually establishing the Lonely Planet series as the golden standard of guidebooks with a global sensibility.



With a similar ambition, but lacking the linguistic reach, the marketing means and perhaps at the time the creative facility of the English-speaking world in this re-invented travel genre, the Guide du Routard set about to distinguish its own style by bringing a specific Gallic genius to the task.



This paper will review the Routard's growth since its beginnings in the seventies and observe how the emergence of the Internet has given the guide the means to better contrast itself to the anglophone Lonely Planet. As the latter's French language version is now competing for its francophone market share, we will see how the Routard seeks to demonstrate its uniqueness not only with more professional travel services, as the Lonely Planet has done, but with a concerted effort at raising the cultural and literary cachet of its ancillary products for enlightened world travelers. With carefully defined sections, such as Livres de route, Carnets de voyage, reportages and assorted dossiers, the Routard site posits boldly that writing style matters and that an inspired pen will best convey the excellent nuances of its chosen ethics of travel and narrative ambitions.



Finally, the paper will explore the interactive sections of the site and observe how contributors at large rise to the challenge of traveling the world better and finding better words to write about their travels