Review of : Le voyage pédestre dans la littérature non fictionnelle de langue allemande. Wanderung et Wanderschaft entre 1770 et 1850, Berlin, Peter Lang, 2018.

This monumental two-volume book, a revised version of the author’s thesis, fills a gap. Until this publication, the walking journey had remained understudied, lacking almost everything that makes an object of scientific research: a linguistic definition, clearly drawn social and cultural contours, and above all a well-defined historical situation. This is precisely what this study aims to do, based on a corpus that is essentially German, but which is put into a broader European perspective: to establish the Wanderung (i.e. the pedestrian journey) but also the Compagnons’ Wanderschaft (“a public and social phenomenon involving the acquisition of knowledge and know-how during a walking tour of at least three years, before becoming a master craftsman” (vol. 1, 9 [all translations mine]) as an analysable historical and cultural concept