Grand Tour to Ali'i Drive in Hawaii, on the advice of Mark Twain

Where does the Polynesian atoll and American state of Hawaii get its image as a paradise on Earth? The writer Mark Twain and the creation of the first Ironman World Championships in 1978 helped make the archipelago a dream destination for Western travellers.

In a way, literature has, above all, lent to the atoll that space of geography dreamt of by all city-dwellers in the metropolises and megalopolises belonging to the western side of the planet, Californians in particular. Since the early 2000s, several social science researchers have demonstrated the heuristic value of exploring literature as a prism of the social imagination. Vincent Coëffé, Director of the Department of Culture, Arts and Heritage at the University of Angers, is one such figure.

Mark Twain's letters, intended for publication in