Walking Studies, the Eastern Townships, and William S. Messier's Dixie

This article is part of a project entitled, ‘Heartlands/Pays du cœur’. This aims to offer new critical approaches to Quebec's ‘regional’ novel; focusing on representations of rural, semi-rural, exurban and urban spaces and places outside of the province's largest city, Montreal. The article considers material and imaginary geographies of the Eastern Townships in relation to William S. Messier's Dixie (2013). Drawing on theories on walking, it is structured around a walking interview with the author, in which he and I discuss the importance of place in his writing whilst moving through key sites featured within it.