René Louis Lafforgue: Cimetière de Cachan #3

René Louis Lafforgue (1925–67)* was of Basque origin and exiled in France. He took part in the French Resistance with his brother Sylvain (1928–44), who died fighting for freedom. He became a very popular singer-songwriter but died in a car crash on the road from Albi to Castres.

Lafforgue appears as one of Georges Perec's memories in Je me souviens (1978), a book inspired by Joe Brainard's I Remember (1970). Of Perec's 480 memories, Lafforgue is number 467.

*I took these dates from those on the grave, although his given birthdate doesn't tally with other sources.

Below are links to three of Lafforgue's songs, the first one being a performance with Georges Brassens on guitar, the second two being recordings of two of his most popular songs:

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René Louis Lafforgue: 'Le Poseur de rails'
René Louis Lafforgue: 'Julie la Rousse'
René Louis Lafforgue: 'L'Écluse'

André Desguine: Cimetière de Cachan #2

André Desguine (1902–81) left his private library of 55,000 books to the département of Hauts-de-Seine. He had collected them over the years from bouqinistes on the banks of the Seine, bookshops, auctions, and from other countries, particularly Italy. His wish was to avoid dispersal of them, and for the general public to share this treasure.

Desguine's special interest was in the 16th century, and he edited Ronsard's Les Bacchanales ou le Folastrissime voyage d'Hercueil près Paris, contributed to the journal Gallia and the Bulletin de l'Association Guillaume Budé. The Bibliothèque André-Desguine was founded in Nanterre in 1983 and has been open to the public since 1988.

Henry Poulaille: Cimetière de Cachan #1

The rather idyllic setting of the cemetery at Cachan with the grave of the prominent working-class writer Henry Poulaille in the foreground and the towering aqueduct in the background.

Poulaille was the son of an anarchist carpenter, and an anarchist himself: France has known many working-class anarchist novelists, although the only two British ones I know of (apart from more recent ones such as James Kelman and Niall Griffiths) are Lewis Grassic Gibbon and the considerably more obscure Lionel Britton.

Not many people seem to have visited Poulaille's grave, and it is in a rather forlorn state.

I had to hold back the ivy to read the inscription:

 

'HENRY POULAILLE

1896 – 1980

ÉCRIVAIN'

 

Poulaille's most well known novel is Pain de soldat: 1914–1917 (1937), a partly autobiographical account of his experiences of war.