Entre la festivalisation et l'aspiration normative : le festival Étonnants Voyageurs et les enjeux de la vie littéraire francophone contemporaine

Abstract

This article aims to analyse the role played by the Étonnants Voyageurs festival in the contemporary Francophone literary space. Based on a comparison with the “salon littéraire”, the discussion of the phenomenon of the literary festival and its function in contemporary literary life from the perspective of the sociology of literature is the starting point for further reflections on the official discourse of the event held annually in Saint-Malo, France, the vision of literature that the festival promotes and the mediating function of the event in question. The main conclusion of the study is that Étonnants Voyageurs has become, in its more than thirty years of existence since its creation by Michel Le Bris in 1990, one of the most important instances of literary legitimacy, especially in the Francophone literary space. Thus, the article shows how and in what directions the promotional mechanism of the festival works, as well as the risks associated with it.