(Re)porter en substance. Forme et fonction de la micro-relation de voyage dans la Gazette de France (1762–1792)

Abstract

The essay identifies a sub-genre of the eighteenth-century French gazette, the micro-relation de voyage [micro-travelogue], studying it as it appeared in the Gazette de France between 1762 and 1792. I argue that the micro-travelogue should be considered as an integral part of the field of travel writing in this period, as it intervenes in the process of mediation operating between the experiences of travel and the readership. Although usually quite short and written in the impersonal narrative voice proper to the French-language gazettes, these texts contain the major elements of eighteenth-century travel writing, contributing as such to the geographical imaginary of the readers.