Book: France: An Adventure History
Author: Graham Robb
Publisher: W.W. Norton
Price: $32.50
At the centre of a 17th-century map of France, the attentive observer can spot an elm tree, marking the intersection of four different provinces. It appears both as a physical embodiment of this frontier as well as a mythological symbol of the tree of knowledge. The 21st-century adventurous traveller needs no further incentive to try and locate it. So Graham Robb embarks on an expedition, using a combination of trains and bicycles, equipped with various maps, including a 16th-century guidebook of the roads of France.
France. An Adventure History is broadly chronological, ranging from prehistory to present day. But it also moves between past and present. One of the ways it achieves this is through the staging of the writer at work, embarking on cycling trips, connecting with places described in texts, such as Caesar’s Commentarii de Bello Gallico, or in 17th-century descriptions, hunting down the remnants of a tree in the middle of France or of a palace in the suburbs of Paris, following slender leads in order to approach a Roman position and connecting it with photographs of the First World War. This brings together the geography and the history of France, the inscription of the past illuminating the texts. The writer is also a detective who brings out continuities, echoes and inconsistencies, sharing with the reader the journey as well as the results of his quest.
The book does not purport to give a detailed account of the history of France. Rather, it approaches the country through moments in history as well as through the exploration of different regions. Hence a chapter on Brittany finds a deep connection between ideology and history and moves seamlessly between legend (Merlin the Enchanter) and facts. A chapter on the south-west of France is the occasion to recount religious strife and heresy. The reign of Louis XIV is evoked through a great feast given in the palace of Versailles. The 18th century is seen through the eyes of a glazier from Paris who wrote a journal. The approach to Provence is the occasion for indulging in the picturesque. It also gives the author occasion to recount Napoleon’s triumphant return to France after his exile on the island of Elba, the period known as the “hundred days” that created the legend of the French emperor. Napoleon III’s reign is introduced through the relationship with his English mistress, Miss Howard. The book ends on contemporary politics — the terrorist attacks in Paris, the revolt of the “yellow vests” and so on.
Robb is keen to decentre the gaze, to share with his readers his enduring love and constant discovery of France, to make them feel the country through his treasure hunts and keen attention to its landscape and cultural landmarks, such as the Tour de France, which unifies the geography of the country, generates myths, and connects with the ancient sense of festivals. This “adventure history” offers in elegant, sometimes witty, prose an entertaining introduction to France and to some aspects of its long history.
