The figure of the foreigner crosses literature. Shrouded in a certain mystery, it often announces the arrival of a change for the place where it arises. the stranger by Chris Van Allsburg is no exception to these elements: hit by Farmer Bailey’s car, the stranger momentarily loses his memory. The Bailey family accommodates the foreigner who, good living, mixes in family life. Fascinated by the flight of birds and the color of the fields, the stranger exerts a mysterious attraction on animals: “He crossed the yard where two rabbits were grazing. Rather than scamper into the woods, they leapt towards him. The foreigner is often only passing through. Here, his past, as well as the allegory he embodies, will remain enigmatic. This is the beauty of the story: this wavering between realism and the marvelous, where a mystery pierces not insecure, but, on the contrary, attractive. To the bewitchment of the words is added that of the illustrations, magnificent and colorful, depicting a realism where an element of the elusive remains.
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