Jean-Jacques Rousseau, walk in the Alps
The philosopher of the Enlightenment, whose reading probably did not excite you in high school, travelled through the Alps for a few years. The author of The New Heloise, Reveries of the Solitary Walker and Confessions lived in Chambéry from 1731 to 1742. Living in a modest house with his patron Madame de Warens, "with little air, little daylight, little space"(The Confessions, Book V), Jean-Jacques Rousseau preferred the calm and greenery of the Charmettes valley in Chambéry (a house that has become a museum), where he would find happiness. The stay in Chambéry is important in the life of the philosopher because it is there that Madame de Warens undertook the literary and philosophical education of the young Rousseau before he travelled to the Alps, preferring lakes to mountains.
The de Maistre brothers, the militant and travelling pen
The statue of these two Savoyards has stood since 1899 at the entrance to the castle of Chambéry. The elder, Joseph (1753-1821), put his pen to the service of the Christian and ultramontane counter-revolution. The French annexation of Savoy led him to go into exile in Lausanne and then in Sardinia where he wrote his Lettres d'un royaliste savoisien and Considérations sur la France. Sent to Russia as minister plenipotentiary of the king of Sardinia to the tsar, he wrote the famous Soirées de Saint-Pétersbourg
Xavier de Maistre (1763-1852), his brother, was more inclined towards adventure. He was in turn an inventor, a soldier in the service of the Sardinian kingdom, a painter - some of his works are exhibited at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Chambéry -, a poet and a writer. In particular, he cultivated the art of the short story, the best known of which are Voyage autour de ma chambre, Le Lépreux de la cité d'Aoste and La Jeune Sibérienne.
Lamartine and the Lac du Bourget, at the source of romanticism
It was in 1820 that Lamartine found himself alone on the shores of Lake Bourget while his girlfriend was ill in Paris, and he composed these verses to ask the majestic lake to preserve in its eternity the trace of his ephemeral loves. "[...] One evening, do you remember? We were sailing in silence; Only the sound of the oarsmen could be heard in the distance, on the wave and under the skies, striking in cadence Your harmonious waves. Suddenly the echoes were struck by sounds unknown to the land; The wave was attentive, and the voice that is dear to me let fall these words: "O time, suspend your flight! and you, propitious hours! Suspend your course: Let us savour the rapid delights of our most beautiful days! [...] ». Do the eternal Alps have the power to stop time?
Literary cures, inspiration in spas
The opening of the Paris-Lyon-Mediterranean railway line in the second half of the 19th century gave the frail and wealthy a new excuse to leave a polluted capital. Travellers eager for the picturesque were advised to go on excursions and get away from it all. For those seeking idleness and relaxation, long stays in fashionable resorts were prescribed, where entertainment was considered an essential part of the cure. This justification of practices by the medical discourse has strongly contributed to the tourist and economic development of the thermal spas of the Alps. Reputations are founded durably. So Colette, before going to the Côte d'Azur, leaves for a cure in Uriage, Verlaine is in Aix-les-Bains and Proust discovers other figures of the good society in Evian where we can transpose a part of La Recherche du temps perdu.
Géo Charles, Olympic champion of literature!
It was in a rather unexpected discipline that Charles Guyot, known by the pseudonym Géo-Charles, won a gold medal at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games. This accomplished sportsman and lover of the arts could no doubt have competed in athletic disciplines, but it was in the "Art and Literature Competitions", dear to the founder of the Games, Pierre de Coubertin, that Géo-Charles became Olympic champion! The Geo-Charles Museum is located in Echirolles, Isère, and houses a unique heritage of the 20th century concerning literature, but also art and sport.
From the mountain novel to the First of the Ropes
The mountain novel is a popular genre that appeared at the beginning of the 20th century to allow the general public to follow in the footsteps of mountaineers. If the beginnings of the genre are rather laborious under the pen of mountaineers not knowing how to share their exploits, Frison-Roche turns out to be a major author. Mountaineer and great figure of the Alps, reporter and writer, who doesn't know Frison-Roche for his best-seller Premier de cordée? A story where the passion for mountaineering of a young boy who wants to become a guide at all costs, the courage and solidarity of the men of the mountain in the face of adversity are mixed. Frison-Roche has written many books on the mountains, all of which are to be recommended to mountaineering enthusiasts. The mountaineers René Demaison(342 heures dans les Grandes Jorasses), Gaston Rebuffat(Le Massif du Mont-Blanc), Lionel Terray(Les Conquérants de l'inutile) all describe their vertical ascents with talent. The Alps constitute an inexhaustible reservoir for telling incredible human adventures, such as that of Frison-Roche with his Montagnards de la nuit or that told by Roger Canac in his Gaspard de la Meije.
Black Alps, thrillers and detective stories
After a long history of focusing on the white of the peaks and the beauty of the mountains, without shying away from the dramas associated with mountaineering, the Alps are revealing a darker side with the success of contemporary thrillers and detective stories. The Alps offer a dream setting for these very popular genres, which love remote and inaccessible places, perfect for committing crimes or hiding monstrous secrets. Crime sous le Mont-Blanc and Un guide pour la mort, published in 1970 and 1971, by Dominique Arly, foreshadowed a wave of novels featuring murders in the mountains. From Mystère à Isola 2000 by Jean Emelina to the terrifying L'Illusion by Maxime Chattam, a sort of Shining alpine version, the Alps have not finished scaring us.
