Sylvain Tesson

Winner of the Prix Renaudot 2019 A New York Times Best Book of 2021 ‘Extraordinarily beautiful… a long last loving glance at the planet.’ Carl Safina, author of Becoming Wild The snow leopard stalks the frozen expanse of the Tibetan plateau – 4,500 metres above sea level. Fierce, silent, near invisible, she is a perfectly adapted predator. Escaping Paris’s urban sprawl, the renowned French adventurer Sylvain Tesson journeys into the frozen wilderness in search of these most elusive creatures. Tightly focused and tautly written, Tesson offers a dazzling account of a singular journey, a meditation on the ruthlessness of the natural world, a plea for ecological sanity and a reflection on the lost art of patience. *** ‘One of the best books of the year.’ Financial Times ‘A transcendent travel writer.’ Countryfile, Best Books of 2021 ‘A poetic eulogy to the planet.’ Big Issue

When Sylvain Tesson left the colourful yellow houses of the French Riveria for a ski trek across the Alps with his friend Daniel du Lac, a high-altitude mountain guide, he didn’t know what exactly would await him. Over the course of four years, from 2018 to 2021, they ascended high into the Alps in winter, following the curve of the mountains from the Mediterranean to the Adriatic, entering into a white world entirely of snow, bitterly cold and overlooked by an empty sky; only the effort of moving forward, one stride at a time, separated the days from one another. He thought he was venturing into beauty but he was immersing himself in a substance. In the White of the high Alps all is cancelled out – hopes, fears, memories and regrets. What did he stand to gain by inflicting this ordeal on himself? This was no ordinary mountain trek: it was communion with a substance. Perhaps his longtime dream of transforming travel into prayer would come true at last.

"Hvidere end sne" er fortællingen om Sylvain Tessons meditative rejse gennem Alpernes vintertomme stilhed. Sammen med sin ven, bjergguiden Daniel du Lac, krydser han fra 2018 til 2021 bjergkæden på ski – fra Middelhavets bred i Menton til Trieste ved Adriaterhavet, gennem Italien, Schweiz, Østrig og Slovenien. I sneens hvide rum ophæves verden: konturerne forsvinder, tiden måles i skridt, og både håb og fortrydelse smelter væk. Tesson søger skønheden – og opløses i den. "Hvidere end sne" er en poetisk refleksion over naturens renhed, menneskets sårbarhed og længslen efter stilhed i en støjende verden. Fra forordet: "Den mindste tur i bjergene opløser tiden, udvider rummet, forjager ånden i ens dybeste indre. I sneen udsletter det kraftige lys bevidstheden. At bevæge sig fremad er det eneste, der tæller. Anstrengelserne udvisker alting - minder og sorg, begær og anger. Men hvad ville jeg opnå på min månedlange vej gennem bjergkæden, og hvad ville jeg vinde ved at udsætte mig selv for udmattelsen? Den morgen vidste jeg det endnu ikke: Det skulle ikke handle om at krydse gennem et bjergmassiv, men om at smelte sammen med noget substantielt. Måske ville den drøm, jeg længe havde forfulgt, blive indfriet: at gøre rejsen til en bøn."

Med en passion for bjergbestigning forsøger Sylvain Tesson i august 2014 at kravle op ad facaden på et hus i Chamonix og falder ved et uheld ned, hvorefter han bliver lagt i kunstig koma. Han kommer sig efter ulykken, men lægerne fraråder ham al fremtidig klatring og vandring. I 2016 trodser han deres råd og begiver sig ud på en 3 måneders vandretur gennem det Frankrig hans mange rejser jorden rundt aldrig har givet ham tid til at besøge. Ad ukendte stier fortæller han fra de gemte og glemte dele af landet."Globetrotterforfatteren Sylvain Tesson har trawlet kloden tynd, men aldrig rigtig oplevet Frankrig. Det råder han bod på med en overdådigt velskrevet fortælling om sin vandring gennem fædrelandet.En forrygende og fortættede rejseberetning, der hurtigt transformeres til et vanvittigt velskrevet og nostalgisk portræt af et Frankrig, som er blevet knust af den kværnende blanding af globalisering og den evindelige galliske hang til administrativ orden og ensretning."Aske Munck, Weekendavisen"Sylvain Tesson iscenesætter sin egen bedagede rejsemaskulinitet med en naturlighed, der er både uironisk, på lange stræk latterlig, og dog samtidig mærkeligt læseværdig."Matthias Dressler-Bredsdorff, Information"Douchebag på afveje. Hvem har ikke – og måske især ved juletid – drømt om som rejsebogsforfatteren Tesson at skride fra det hele: arbejdet, telefonen, de sociale bånd og forpligtelser og forsvinde ud i verden?"Julie Gufler, Frihedsbrevet Tesson fik i 2019 den prestigiøse Prix Renaudot for “Sneleoparden", der udkom på dansk i 2020.

A walking journey through France’s vast interior becomes a meditation on both personal recovery and the role of history in the present-more than 425,000 copies sold in France After a free-climbing accident lands him in a coma and a hospital for four months, the French writer Sylvain Tesson makes a promise to himself: if he’s ever able to walk again, he will traverse the entire country of France on foot. Part literary adventure, part philosophical reflection on our contemporary consumer culture, On the Wandering Paths takes us deep into the heart of what Tesson terms France’s “hyperrural” zones. Tracing the obscure paths peasants once followed throughout the countryside, Tesson embarks on a three-month journey of solitude and personal contemplation as he walks along vast stretches of mountain ranges and rivers, encountering ancient Roman stone bridges and walkways, the French Foreign Legion, pagan prayer sites, ProvenÇal villages, and the majestic Mont-Saint-Michel. Connecting deeply with the places he visits, his experiences inspire reflection on the essential need to disengage from the digital and immerse oneself in natural beauty.Rich with humor, historical insight, and literary power, On the Wandering Paths is both a meditation on the act of recovery and a potent recognition of the traces of our past in the present. Asking us to reassess our values and our relationship to the land, Tesson’s exquisite chronicle through landscapes that continue to resist urbanization and technology is a thoughtful-and thought-provoking-glimpse into a poet’s adventurous life. Les Chemins de Pierre, a film based on the book starring Jean Dujardin, is due to release in 2022.

"- Tesson ! Je poursuis une bête depuis six ans, dit Munier. Elle se cache sur les plateaux du Tibet. J'y retourne cet hiver, je t'emmène. - Qui est-ce ? - La panthère des neiges. Une ombre magique ! - Je pensais qu'elle avait disparu, dis-je. - C'est ce qu'elle fait croire."Sylvain Tesson, invité par le photographe animalier Vincent Munier, parcourt le Tibet oriental. Il apprend l'art de l'affût dans l'hiver et le silence. L'espoir et la tension affleurent. Et si la bête ne se montrait pas ?

Winner of the Prix Renaudot 2019 A New York Times Best Book of 2021 ‘Extraordinarily beautiful… a long last loving glance at the planet.’ Carl Safina, author of Becoming Wild The Art of Patience sees the renowned French adventurer and writer set off for the high plateaux of remotest Tibet in search of the elusive snow leopard. There, in the company of leading wildlife photographer Vincent Munier and two companions, at 5,000 metres and in temperatures of -25ºC, the team set up their hides on exposed mountainsides, and occasionally in the luxury of an icy cave, to await a visitation from the almost mythical beast. This tightly focused and tautly written narrative is simultaneously a dazzling account of an exacting journey, an apprenticeship in the art of patience, an acceptance of the ruthlessness of the natural world and, finally, a plea for ecological sanity. A small masterpiece, it is one of those books that demands to be read again and again.