La puissance de l’environnement naturel dans L’usage du monde de Nicolas Bouvier

In this article, I argue that nature in L’usage du monde, a travelogue by Nicolas Bouvier, is presented as a dynamic force rather than a simple framework. Bouvier’s work thus fulfills at least two criteria established by Lawrence Buell to define the “environmental text”: human history is implicated in natural history and the environment is conceived as a process rather than as a constant. In L’usage du monde, it is not only human behaviour and lifestyle which are strongly dependent on the natural environment; nature and its inherent evolutions as well as the colours and forms of landscapes also have a significant influence on human feelings and their psychological state. Thus, Bouvier shows how the natural environment determines the events that take place, bringing L’usage du monde closer to the work of Julien Gracq and Claude Simon. These authors emphasise, as thinkers of geographical or environmental determinism, the influence of the natural landscape on human behaviour and, consequently, on human history. This comparison will allow us to highlight the specificity of Bouvier’s work, which shows the impact of climate, seasons, colours and light on the emotional state of human beings and uses geographic determinism to develop a reflection on environmental ethics