Nature as Language: A Semio-Poetic Approach to Jean Giono’s Universe

Abstract

Jean Giono’s work is distinguished by a particular attention to nature, not merely as a backdrop but as a living language and bearer of meaning. This article examines how nature in
Giono’s prose functions as a system of signs, an ethical medium, and a vector of universal harmony. The analysis is structured around two axes: the first explores the symbolization of the living and the poetics of the sensible world, highlighting the role of lexicon and stylistic
figures in transforming the natural world into a form of language; the second emphasizes
ethics and universal harmony, showing how attentive perception and human actions establish
a moral ecopoetics. The study draws on theoretical references from semiotics,
phenomenology, and contemporary ecocriticism. It concludes that Giono does not merely
describe nature: he makes it speak, offering a semiotic-ethical poetics where reading and
perception of the living become acts of sensitive and moral participation.