Marguerite Yourcenar’s Garden as a Place Inspired by Oriental Thought – In the Light of Gilles Clément’s Design –

Abstract

In her text ‘‘Méditations dans un jardin’’, Marguerite Yourcenar addresses various issues affecting the world through a reflection on the garden. Her vision is similar to that of Gilles Clément, a French gardener and landscape architect who proposed concepts such as ‘‘the garden in movement’’ and ‘‘the planetary garden’’, inspired by Eastern thought. Indeed, Yourcenar also visited Zen gardens during her trip to Japan, and in one of her essays, she compares Zen gardens to the gardens depicted in Flemish painting. The garden allows her to develop her imagination, transcending time and space, and this type of imagination can also be found in her novels.