Shaun Whiteside

Geoffroy Delorme

Seven Years Living with Deer in the Wild

Deer Man

Amoureux de la nature, Geoffroy Delorme n'a pas vingt ans quand il aperçoit, dans la forêt de Louviers en Normandie, un chevreuil curieux et joueur. Le jeune homme et l'animal s'apprivoisent. Geoffroy lui donne un nom, Daguet, et le chevreuil lui ouvre les portes de la forêt et du monde fascinant de ses semblables. Geoffroy s'installe parmi eux et son expérience immersive va durer sept ans. Vivre seul en forêt sans tente, ni abri, ni même un sac de couchage ou une couverture, c'est surtout apprendre à survivre. Geoffroy Delorme suit l'exemple des chevreuils. Il adopte leurs comportements, apprend à se nourrir, à dormir et à se protéger comme eux. Il acquiert une connaissance unique de ces animaux et de leur mode de vie, il les observe, les photographie et communique avec eux. Il apprend à partager leurs joies, leurs peines et leurs peurs. Aujourd'hui, il raconte.

L'Homme-chevreuil

Den bästsäljande franska självbiografin om en mans unika kontakt med rådjur.Som pojke är Geoffroy Delorme ensam och söker sig gärna ut i naturen. En dag i skogen i Normandie möter han ett nyfiket rådjur, ett möte som öppnar vägen till en fascinerande värld som lockar honom allt mer. Geoffroy börjar äta sina måltider i det fria, sedan också att övernatta under bar himmel. Snart finner han för gott att stanna kvar.Geoffroy lever till slut sju år i skogen. Han anpassar sina mat- och sovvanor för att överleva. Gradvis kommer han allt närmare ett antal rådjur och får uppleva deras liv - och död - på nära håll. Han delar deras strövtåg och tycks bli accepterad som en like. Hos rådjuren upplever han djup vänskap och närvaro. Han blir Rådjursmannen.

Mina sju år i vildmarken

Rådjursmannen

Questo è il resoconto dei sette anni trascorsi da Geoffroy Delorme nella foresta di Bord-Louviers, in Normandia, insieme ai caprioli. L'uomo, da sempre affascinato dalla vita all'aperto, tanto che sin da piccolo usciva di nascosto la notte per addentrarsi nei boschi, trascorre un'infanzia e un'adolescenza solitarie, cresciuto da genitori freddi e anaffettivi. Dopo alcuni anni nel bosco, l'autore comincia a subire il "richiamo della foresta", sentirsi come l'animale di compagnia dei caprioli, che paiono averlo adottato. Soffre assieme a loro per le battute di caccia, per i repentini disboscamenti di un territorio già abbastanza urbanizzato, per la durezza degli inverni; al contempo gioisce delle nuove nascite, delle amicizie, delle scoperte entusiasmanti che ogni stagione gli riserva. Quando poi, dopo alcuni anni, proverà a rientrare nella sua casa d'infanzia per mangiare e farsi una doccia, trovando però porte e mobili sbarrati, tornerà tra gli alberi definitivamente e senza rimpianti. Solo la debolezza fisica e il desiderio di fare qualcosa di concreto per preservare le specie che vivono nella foresta lo convinceranno, anni dopo, a riavvicinarsi agli umani. Con una lingua diretta, toccante e priva di sovrastrutture, Geoffroy Delorme, alias l'uomo capriolo scrive la sua personale elegia alla natura, all'amore per gli animali e alla libertà della vita selvatica.

L'uomo Capriolo

For readers of Fox & I comes “a fable very much for our time.”—The TIMES “Unusual and fascinating... Read this book and enter into another world."— Jane Goodall In this sensuous and moving memoir, a young man forms a powerful connection with deer while living alone in the woods for seven years. Geoffroy Delorme does not fit in the human world. As a boy, he dreams of transforming into a fox so he can escape into the forest. As he gets older, he disappears into the woods at night, drawn to the rhythms of animal life. One night, an encounter with a deer changes his life: from then on, he knows he wants to live among them. Delorme becomes a creature of the forest. He learns to live without a tent or sleeping bag and forage for whatever food he can find. He blends in with the deer and, slowly, they accept him into their world. He witnesses their births and deaths, courtship and battles, ostracism and friendship over the cycles of their lives. Among the deer, he experiences the beauty, pain, fear, and joy of a life lived as a part of nature, not separate from it. In his final year in the forest, Delorme meets a woman walking through the trees. He knows he can stay in the forest and die with his friends—or he can leave, and speak their truth to a human world that desperately needs to hear it. Deer Man is a moving story of what it’s like to be an outsider and how forming connections with the natural world can help us feel less alone. A unique and powerful window into how far one human is willing to go to understand an animal, Deer Man asks us to never take for granted the flora and fauna of our world, and to work for their protection in whatever ways we can.

Seven Years of Living in the Wild

This extraordinary book tells the story of Geoffroy Delorme, an accomplished photographer, lecturer and nature lover, who, recalling a chance meeting with a young roe deer in his youth, decides to change his life. He casts his metropolitan world behind and relocates to the sumptuous national forest of Louviers, Normandy to live with the deer and immerse himself in the wilderness for seven years. Alone in the forest with no tent, no shelter and not even a sleeping bag or blanket is an exercise in pure survival, and so Geoffroy follows the deer's behaviour closely. He adapts to their way of life, learns to eat and sleep among them, and acquires a unique understanding of these extraordinary creatures. Over time he befriends the deer and becomes part of a wild animal family with which he shares moments of joy, sorrow and even fear. Deer Man is a fascinating and spellbinding account of the ancient quest to reconnect with the natural world.

Geoffroy Delorme

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