ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the pastoral in the early works of Gide and on the translations of the Bucolics by Valery and Pagnol, before examining Giono's contribution to the Virgilian heritage through his Introduction to a selection of Virgil's poetry, Les Pages immortelles de Virgile. Where he depicts his childhood in terms that constantly echo the Bucolics. While the Aeneid is the most important presence in Aragon's Resistance poetry, the Bucolics nevertheless offered him a framework for his evocation of France's golden past. Gide was able to perceive echoes of the Bucolics' tranquil simplicity in Africa. It is interesting that Gide used the Bucolics not only to promote the openness and acceptance which he found in Africa but also to denounce the stagnancy and hypocrisy of French society. The cool shade of Virgil's pastoral world is countered by other allusions to the Bucolics, most notably a reference to the second.
