From the rural “terroir” to the “neorural” novel: the contradictions and complementarities between popular and high literature in contemporary France

Scholars of the social sciences and literati, who have focused their research on the geo-literary approach, often contrast “high” literature with the popular rural terroir. This contrast continues to be very topical, particularly in the French context. This paper does not propose to demonstrate the supremacy of the neorural novel over the terroir novel, or indeed the opposite. Instead, it attempts to understand how two very different literary forms have contributed to building the spatial imaginary of rural France (whether in terms of peasants and rural society of the past or right up to the present) which underlies current European agricultural policies and/or the promotion of French rural heritage.