1. Forum Meetings

The Thrill of Rail

Literary evening held on 14 November 2012
Actes

Literature is, among other things, a source of knowledge, so we looked to two French-language writers for whom the train is an essential part of their storytelling, and staged readings from their novels. Also taking part in the evening were a writer and critic, academics and SNCF professionals. All these points of view helped to broaden our understanding of railroad mobility.


On 14 November 2012 the Forum tried a new experiment: to look at railroad mobility and its challenges within a literary workshop, by discussing various literary works in French from the 20 th and 21 st centuries.

The aim was to encourage debate between social science academics and SNCF professionals, all of whom being involved in mobility issues. They were gathered around the Master of Ceremony for the evening, the writer and critic Jean-Pierre Martin.

Do writers feel what academics conceptualise? Do academics deconstruct what writers describe? Are academics lagging behind writers? Are writers biased? Or is it the other way round?

These were some of the questions underpinned by readings and commentaries around the selected texts, each of which, in its own way, presented “the social and emotional makeup of the train traveller”.

 

General introduction to the evening – Jean-Pierre Martin

Jean-Pierre Martin

Introduction to the novel and reading of an extract – Jean-Pierre Martin

Le Petit Chose (Alphonse Daudet) lecture de Jean-Pierre Martin

“Far from a luxury train” – Jean-Pierre Martin

“How mobility changes us” – Michel Lussault

Le Petit Chose (Alphonse Daudet) commentaire de Michel Lussault

introduction to the novel and reading of an extract – Jean-Pierre Martin

“When the train makes us think of the bathroom” – Jean-Pierre Martin

“How to stay inside your bubble” – Bénédicte Tilloy

Mobility

For the Mobile Lives Forum, mobility is understood as the process of how individuals travel across distances in order to deploy through time and space the activities that make up their lifestyles. These travel practices are embedded in socio-technical systems, produced by transport and communication industries and techniques, and by normative discourses on these practices, with considerable social, environmental and spatial impacts.

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Associated Thematics :

Lifestyles

  • Alternative mobilities


To cite this publication :

(22 May 2013), « The Thrill of Rail », Préparer la transition mobilitaire. Consulté le 21 May 2025, URL: https://forumviesmobiles.org/en/forum-meetings/1108/thrill-rail


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