Death and Resurrection on the If Island

Abstract

The castle of If is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Marseille. This 16th-century fortress was a prison from 1540 until the First World War. Tourists from all over the world are drawn by the presence of a prisoner who has never been there because he never existed: Edmond Dantès, the Count of Monte-Cristo. This chapter analyses how this castle became a confluence space between fiction and reality and a venue for various film adaptations of Dumas' novel. It also shows how this romantic pamphleteer managed to overcome the paradox of giving authenticity to a tourist spot without paying any attention to historical facts or verisimilitude. The chapter draws on the concepts of literary and dark tourism, the concept of aura linked to authenticity in the work of art, and the concept of literary tourist.