Between cinema and literature: tourism around the figure of Marcel Pagnol in Provence

Marcel Pagnol (1895-1974) is an important figure of 20th century French culture as he played a considerable role in cinema from the 1930s to the 1950s and published an autobiographical literary work. Visiting Pagnol’s places allows to follow the itinerary of a playwright, then of a director, screenwriter and film producer, and finally of a writer who left a lasting mark. The article intends to show how Pagnol’s memory is enhanced today by elements relating to interplay (intermediality) between cinema and literature, so as to build a ‘popular-classic’ author figure. The article presents the link between Pagnol’s works, the tourist places and the tourist activities offered by the city of Aubagne around the author, considering that the intermediality at the heart of Pagnol’s artistic works is reflected in the organization of visits to tourist sites. These evoke simultaneously the locations of the films, the author’s biographical sites and the places transfigured by the books. Literary and film tourism around Pagnol in Provence has three main aspects, depending on the objectives sought by visitors: visiting the biographical authentic places, experiencing the places that correspond to imaginary territories in films and books, discovering an original landscape.