27 February 2021 | Tourism, Culture, Transport
La Route du Soleil - Autonauts of the Cosmoroute
"Autonauts of the Cosmoroute" is a love story, a travelogue, a collection of stories and snapshots, both visual and verbal, irreverent and brilliant. In May of 1982, Julio Cortázar, literary explorer of the highest order, set out with Carol Dunlop aboard their VW camper van (a.k.a. Fafner) to explore the uncharted territory of the Paris to Marseille autoroute.
It was a route they’d driven before, usually in about ten hours. This time, they loaded up with supplies—food, water, wine, typewriters, cameras. Normally, the drive would last around 10 hours, but Cortázar and Dunlop resolved never to leave the autoroute and to explore each of its 65 service stations. Thus it took them 33 days to get from northern France to the Mediterranean, as they searched for the autoroute's hidden side and tried to push the travel narrative to some new extreme.
"Anyone who doesn’t read Cortázar is doomed." - Pablo Neruda
