Sur les traces des loups des livres pour enfants

During the second half of the nineteenth century, the wolf, considered a pest, was on the verge of being eradicated in France. An analysis of a series of works written for children will show that while literary representations of the animal suggest a move toward Naturalism—all the while retaining a strong symbolic connotation (whether moral, civil, or political)—they cannot escape the magical qualities inherited from their origins in fairy tales. Through it all, this wild animal is no longer entirely negative, as new and traditional images collide: is the wolf a species to protect, or a scourge to be destroyed by all means? (In French)