A. Corbin, The Sweetness of Shade. The Tree, a Source of Emotion from Antiquity to the Present Day - History, Politics and Society

French Literature Reviews - 2026

A. Corbin, The Sweetness of Shade. The Tree, a Source of Emotion from Antiquity to the Present Day
History, Politics and Society

The Sweetness of Shade. The Tree, a Source of Emotion from Antiquity to the Present Day.

Alain Corbin

Fayard, Coll. "Divers Histoire", 2013, 364 p. / EAN : 9782213661650.

They have been awestruck by the presence of the tree. They have experienced admiration, but also horror, inspired by this sovereign plant. Almost all have watched for and listened to the voice of the tree. Some have hoped to benefit from its messages, to make it their mentor. Others, rarer still, have declared their love for it. The purpose of this book is to trace, from Greco-Roman antiquity onwards, those who knew how to "see the tree": Horace and Virgil, but also Ronsard and La Fontaine.
Later on, Rousseau, Goethe, Novalis and, in France, Chateaubriand, Hugo, Proust and Yves Bonnefoy, among others. Naturally, there were also painters. To stretch out beneath the shade, to relax there, to meditate, to immerse oneself in the foliage, to take refuge there, to climb. In contemporary times, some have attempted to embed their bodies in the bark, hoping that the plant would preserve the imprint.
At the extreme, the dying have wished for their DNA to be transmitted to the tree planted on their graves. As we can see, this book invites us on a long journey, to encounter the rural tree, the hedgerow tree, the solitary and wild tree, as well as the domestic tree. This is a history of the emotions felt by individuals who, down through the centuries, possessed the words to express them.

Contents:

  • WRITING ABOUT THE TREE
  • "THE ANCIENT WITNESSES OF AGES PAST"
  • THE MEDIATOR FROM THE CHTHONIC TO THE OURANIAN
  • EMOTIONS LINKED TO THE SACREDNESS OF THE TREE
  • THE TREE: FROM DREAD TO TERROR
  • THE WONDERFUL, ONEIRIC, FANTASTIC TREE
  • THE SOUL OF TREES
  • THE TREE: ANALOGY AND INDIVIDUALIZATION
  • THE SENSITIVE TREE AND HUMAN EMPATHY
  • THE MORAL TREE

A historian and specialist in 19th-century France, Alain Corbin is known for his innovative approach to the historicity of the senses and sensibility. He is notably the author of Women for Hire (1978), The Foul and the Fragrant (1982), The Village of Cannibals (1990) and The World Refound of Louis-François Pinagot (1998), all of which have achieved great success in France and abroad.

Alain Corbin places this exploration within the established tradition of historical anthropology and the history of sensibilities, a field in which he is a pioneering figure. By examining how individuals across centuries have observed, feared, or revered trees, the work bridges environmental history with the evolution of human interiority. It builds on the author's renowned methodological approach, which treats sensory perceptions and subjective emotional responses as legitimate and revealing historical archives.

This book is especially valuable for readers interested in environmental humanities, cultural history, and the shifting relationship between humanity and the natural world. It helps address fundamental questions about how cultural representations of landscape shape our deepest feelings of solace, dread, or spiritual connection. Scholars, students, and general readers seeking to understand the historical roots of ecological consciousness will find this subtle study an illuminating companion.