From Walking as a Relationship to the World to Walking as an Exploration of a Work and a Country

A Geopoetic Approach to the Work of Max-Philippe Delavouët

Authors

  • Estelle Ceccarini ix-Marseille université, Caer, Aix-en-Provence

Keywords:

Provence, provençal landscapes, provençal literature, Ecopoetry, Ecocriticism, Delavouët

Abstract

This article considers the place of walking in the work of the Provençal poet Mas-Felipe Delavouët and its implications for the knowledge of the contemporary Provençal territory. After a presentation of the biographical itinerary of this poet allowing to define his geographical anchoring, marked by an initial wandering and a rooting, we present the paths in the work of Delavouët, showing that walking is an expression of being in the world because it appears as the primary modality for inhabiting a country, going so far as to make walking the existential metaphor of a journey towards oneself. In a second step, we show how walking in the poetry of Delavouët allows an attention to places and an intimate relationship with the landscape, natural and architectural. Thus, this work can be thought of as a resource to guide those who venture into this territory today, following for example the initiatives of the Study and Research Centre dedicated to him, in the farmhouse that was his home, which develops initiatives at the heart of the challenges of promoting these natural, literary, cultural and linguistic riches.

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Published

2026-08-24