Baume-les-Messieurs, Jura (39)

Baume-les-Messieurs is a cul-de-sac village in the Jura département, noted mainly for its caves, its abbey and its waterfall. When we went there were many visitors in the village hamlets themselves but although we spent about an hour in the church graveyard and the church at the entrance to the village, not a single person entered. And yet there are some very interesting things to see there: does no one know about Les Trois Cloches these days? Jean Villard (aka Gilles) wrote the song 'Les Trois Cloches' in 1939, and it was made famous after the war by Édith Piaf. Gilles was a Swiss poet, chansonnier, actor, writer and composer born in Montreux in 1895 and who died Saint-Saphorin in 1982. Er, the 'village au fond de la vallée' mentioned in the song is Baume-les-Messieurs and was inspired by Gilles when he stayed there one day. The Jean-François Nicot named in the song is borrowed from François Nicot (1858–1929), whose grave Gilles noted in the churchyard.

Or not. It appears that this is a modern legend created by journalist Jean Barthelet in 1970, who later confessed that he had made the story up, and to verify this Jean Villard himself said that he had no knowledge of Baume, that he made the song up on the banks of Lac Léman.

All the same, here is the tomb of François Nicot:

And a photo of a gîte called, you'd never guess:

La Maison de la vache qui rit, Lons-le-Saunier, Jura (39)

Yes, I know: pure capitalism, so what's it doing here? Why am I in effect advertising a (mainly processed) cheese, particularly since I'm a long-term vegetarian with strong vegan sympathies? A sense of the ridiculous is my only plea: a museum devoted to Laughing Cow cheese? Difficult to ignore visiting, although I certainly don't eat it. Historically, too, this museum is very interesting, showing how the logo developed many mutations. I almost hate to say it, but although we thought we were in for a very kitschy time we really enjoyed this place.

Benjamin Rabier (1864–1939) was an illustrator and author born in La Roche-sur-Yon and who died in Faverolles. His design of La Vache qui rit brought him fame. In his memoirs, Rabier says that he spent sleepless nights trying to make a cow laugh, and even hired a cow and calf from his milkman to greatly aid his task. He illustrated La Fontaine's Fables and Le Roman de Renart. From 1915 he successfully drew advertising material for many different companies. But in the end it was his duck Gédéon, enjoyed by many children, which brought him the most success.

We visited La Vache qui rit on the first day of its re-opening, which was 2 June 2018. At the moment at least, towards the end of the visit there is an extensive display of African art products, using recycled metal objects. Yes, at the top of this exhibit is a circular disc representing a laughing cow!

Jean-Joseph Perraud, Lons-le-Saunier, Jura (39)

Jean-Joseph Perraud was a sculptor born in Monay (Jura) and died in Paris in 1876. Wikipédia describes his style as neo-Classical with hints of Romanticism. He left his studio collection and his personal art collection to the town of Lons-le-Saunier. One side of the column above gives a few of his works, of which Le Drame lyrique is on the facade of of Palais Garnier in Paris. Among his other works are Berlin (Gare Paris-Nord), a bust of the chansonnier Béranger (Musée Carnavalet), Le Désespoir (Musée d'Orsay), and L'Enfance de Bacchus (Palais Galliera). The bronze bas-relief above is of Perraud's Télémaque apportant à Phalante l'urne renfermant les cendres d'Hippias.

Fifty years after 1968, the spirit lives on in rue de l'aubépin, Lons-le-Saunier, Jura (39)

Rue de l'aubépin, Lons-le-Saunier, where the spirit of Mai 1968 lives on. I adore places like this.

Walter Bassan, a former member of the French Resistance against Hitler's murderous mob, died in the night between 4 and 5 September 2017.

His words say that there is but one race, the human race, which deserves respect and should be defended. Throughout history people have fought for a better world, such as the slaves in ancient times or the revolutionaries of 1789, the World War II Resistance members – and the oppressed have always won. He says that consumer society tends to isolate, to shut people into a cold, mechanical, impersonal, dehumanised world with short-term interests. But we should be thinking more of sharing, of brotherhood and the freedom to create for the future.

Resistance is choosing to live, preserving life, with no possiblity of going back. By resisting, we create a better society.

Government by the CAC 40. In English, that would read government by the Footsie index, and all over the world it's pretty much the same message that the clowns in government want to broadcast: shares win, sharers lose. Oh, how wrong they are.

La lutte continue, et les opprimés vaincront.

Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, Lons-le-Saunier, Jura (39)

Rue du commerce, Lons-le-Saunier, Jura (39).

'DANS

CETTE MAISON EST NÉ

ROUGET DE LISLE

LE 10 MAI 1760'

Rouget de Lisle is big in Lons-le-Saunier: he is, after all, the officer, poet and playwright who created the French national anthem, a song of freedom for those oppressed by tyranny.

Rouget de Lisle's house is recognised as one of the 'Maisons des Illustres', although the dates this tiny museum are open are unfortunately very few.

Rouget de Lisle's statue holds pride of place in Lons-le-Saunier, and inevitably includes an example of La Marseillaise.

'ROUGET DE LISLE

NÉ À LONS-LE-SAUNIER LE 10 MAI 1760

MORT À CHOISY-LE-ROY LE 27 JUIN 1836

AUTEUR DE LA MARSEILLAISE

CE CHANT DE LA PATRIE

LUI FUT INSPIRÉ ET FUT CRÉE PAR LUI

À STRASBOURG

1792'

'LA MARSEILLAISE EST LIÉE À LA RÉVOLUTION

ET FAIT PARTIE DE NOTRE DÉLIVRANCE'

VICTOR HUGO

'LA MARSEILLAISE EST UN CHANT DE FRATERNITÉ'

MICHELET

Emmanuel Bourgeois and wife, Lons-le-Saunier, Jura (39)

The only other grave that interested me in the cemetery in Lons-le-Saunier – the exception being François-Xavier Guillemet's – was that of the sculptor Emmanuel Bourgeois, whose astonishing representation, along with his wife, I post above.

François-Zavier Guillermet, Lons-le-Saunier, Jura (39)

'FRANÇOIS-ZAVIER

GUILLERMET

HOMME DE LETTRES

BIBLIOTHÉCAIRE

ARCHIVISTE DE

LA VILLE DE LONS-LE-SR

OFFICIER DE

L'INSTRUCTION PUBLIQUE

––––––––––––

1814–1896'

Lons is pronounced 'Lonce' locally. François-Zavier Guillermet wrote many local history publications, edited Le Patriote jurassien, and also wrote regional novels. His 346-page book Lons-le-Saunier : souvenirs et croquis [lit. 'Memories and Sketches'] was first published in 1875 and was re-printed as a facsimile edition as recently as 2011.

Champagne mural, Épernay, Marne (51)

Épernay, of course, is in the heart of Champagne country, as shown in the example of this mural near the centre of the town. It is actually an advertisement for Monsard-Baillet Champagne, and was designed in 1994.

Maurice Renard in Épernay, Marne (51)

 

OK, I sort of cheated here in including the tomb of the Renard family in Épernay, specifically that of Édouard Philippe Renard, who was once mayor of Épernay. But I must say that my interest in Édouard is purely because he happens to be the grandfather of Maurice Renard (1875–1939), born in Chalons-sur-Champagne (then called Chalons-sur-Marne), which is very close to Épernay. Maurice Renard is best known as a writer of science fiction and detective novels, notably for Docteur Lerne (1908) and Les Mains d'Orlac (1920), both of which were filmed. He died in Rochefort-sur-Mer and was buried in the cemetery of Dolus-d'Oléron on l'île d'Oléron: if I'd known of this a few months ago when I spent two weeks in Charente-Maritime I'd have sought out the grave, but this will have to do for now.

Wasted Rock Rangers in Folkestone, Kent

Now, anyone who even considered that Folkestone, Kent, UK, is a dull place deserves a very good talking to. There we were in Folkestone yesterday and suddenly noticed this, er, English Heritage plaque to the 'legendary' Wasted Rock Rangers. 'Who?' I thought, but then I did the Google and discovered (I think) that Wasted Rock Rangers, in a previous incarnation, were known as Hotel Bill and the Incidentals. They also, I should have remembered, released an album called Fuck Christmas. Ah, that Wasted Rock Rangers! For the uninitiated, the plaque reads:

'Legendary

Rock 'n' Roll band

WASTED ROCK

RANGERS

Performed at this venue on 26th April 2013

The first WRR gig to feature

the classsic line-up of

Joe Ranger, Shaun Ranger,

Ken Ranger, River Vegas

& Jim Cassidy'

So now you know.

Pierre Gascar: Les Bêtes (1953)

Rarely – very rarely  – do I give up on a book, although I had to do this time with Les Bêtes (followed by Le Temps des morts). It won the Goncourt in 1953, and I deliberately sought it out because as a vegetarian and a believer in the equality of many animals to humans I thought that this would prove insightful. Interesting too that Franz-Olivier Giesbart  – who published L'Abbateur in 2003  – should highlight this book, although Giesbert's sympathy for animals stops at winged creatures: Thierry Ardisson's description of Giesbart as a kind of vegetarian is well off the mark because vegetarians eat no meat at all: point final !

Nevertheless, and this isn't in any English sense a novel but a series of short stories, I was initially impressed by the violence inflicted on the horses during the war, by the huge sympathy shown for animals in the depiction of a butcher setting on an apprentice, by the obvious horror of the narrator (and therefore the author) in the suffering of slaughtered animals in the 'abbatoir', but somehow this whole project liquifed into eau de boudin, and I was too bored to continue. But I don't discard any Goncourt winners, and I may return to this and arrive at a different meaning. I hope so.

Jules Roy: Vézelay ou l'amour fou (1990)

This is a love story to Vézelay, a village of 435 inhabitants (2014) in the Yonne. Jules Roy (1907–2000) spent more than the final twenty years of his life there, and is buried there along with a number of other notable figures: Georges Bataille, Max-Pol Fouchet, Maurice Clavel and Rosalie Vetch. This is a village reculé, in a cul-de-sac, and it one of the places on the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage map.

Roy's concern is with culture, and as might be expected Vézelay is full of it. Roy goes through the village's history, particularly of the Basilique Sainte Marie-Madeleine. He also speaks of the geography and flora surrounding the village, of the many writers associated with it (also Prosper Mérimée, Paul Claudel and Romain Rolland, for instance), the architects Villet-le-Duc and Jean Badovici, etc.

The tourism Vézelay has attracted doesn't seem to impress him though, and he rather sniffily speaks of American tour guides and cars in winter looking like they're fit for the North Pole. Sniffy is also the word to use for his opinion of Jules Renard, whom he describes as being interested in nothing much. Popular culture seems to be anathema to him, and I found this beautifully written book spoiled by Jules Roy's description of Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot as 'princesses of futility'.

Manfred Flügge: Amer azur : Artistes et écrivains à Sanary (2007)

What can I say about this book? It's Manfred Flügge's first book in French, and it feels so justifiable to be so: Flügge is an expert in certain kinds of French culture, and this book is a tribute to the exiles of any nationality on the Côte d'Azur, especially in Sanary-sur-Mer.

I can't read this book from cover ot cover as it contains so much information about so many people, I have to re-read, go over the multiple stories, treasure them over a time. This is not a book to read in a few hours, or even a few days.

Amer azur begins with the 'patron saint' of exile,  Hermann Heine, who was an exile from Germany whose statue, after many wanderings, ended up in Toulon. It continues with the various 'generations' of visitors to the coast, beginning with the writers such as Huxley, D.H. Lawrence, Sybille Bedford (born in Germany but married by convenience to conceal her birth), then painters such as André Masson and Walter Bondy. And then the mainly German writers such as Thomas Mann, Bertolt Brecht, Lion Feuchtwanger, Franz Werfel and Alma Mahler-Werfel, Franz Hessel of Jules et Jim fame, and on and on.

Amer azur: Artistes et écrivains à Sanary is a book to treasure, to read over and over again in order to discover, to understand,  just a part of France's rich literary history. Wonderful.

Tuxford Lock-up, Nottinghamshire

The Tuxford lock-up, Nottinghamshire, which screams the date it was built, 1823, before county police forces. An elected police constable would do his duty, temporarily locking up paupers and highwaymen, for instance. Navvies (employed on the local railway) were often locked up for drunken behaviour. The central entrance is where the constable stayed, the two areas at the side (compete with metals chains for violent prisoners) reserved for the 'inmates'.

Elizabeth Penrose in East Markham, Nottinghamshire

East Markham parish church, Nottinghamshire.

One of the south aisle windows, this one dedicated to the author Elizabeth Penrose.

'This window was rebuilt

Ao. Dni. 1885

To the Honour of GOD

and in memory of Eliza Daughter

of Edmund Cartwright. D.D.'

'For many of her earlier years

resident in this Parish,

and afterwards wife

of the Reverend

John Penrose M.A.'

'She was authoress

of Mrs Markham’s History

of England etc

and was buried in

Lincoln Minster in 1837'

Elizabeth Penrose (1780–1837), née Cartwright, wrote under the pseudonym Mrs Markham, after the village where she spent her youth. Her History of England was published in 1865. Among other books, she also wrote A History of Germany from its Invasion by Marius to the year 1850 (1853), and more than one edition of A History of France.

Telephone Box Library (Boîte à lire), East Markham, Nottinghamshire

The boîtes à livres in France are many, and I've mentioned a few of them on my blog here. There'is even a website devoted to recording where boîtes à lire can be found. In England, though, this one in a redundant telephone box is the only one I've come across: I was interested to note Kerouac's Dharma Bums. OK, I far prefer these days to drive around France than the UK, and I've discovered that there is one of these places in Banbury. Who knows where else? Tardily, I've also found out that Todd Bol has created Little Free Libraries, and that there are thousands of these places around the USA, and probably the entire world. I don't see it as resistance against new technology, far from it: these places are where people can go and maybe meet like-minded people, people interested in or curious about ideas and the world outside their own lives in general: not a reaction against the internet, but more of an extension of their own reality. That can't be bad in any way.

Boîtes à lire:
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Boîte à Lire, Dicy, Nièvre
Boîte à lire, Maisons-Laffitte, Yvelines
Boîte à lire, Sorigny, Indre-et-Loire
Boîte à Lire, Jonzac, Charente-Maritime
Boîte à lire, La Roque-d'Anthéron, Bouches-du-Rhône
Boîte à Lire, Épineuil-le-Fleuriel, Cher
Boîte à lire, Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône
Boîte à lire, East Markham, UK
Boîte à lire, La Folie Couvrechef, Caen, Calvados
Boîte à lire, Bergues, Nord
Boîte à lire, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime
Boîte à lire, Villerville, Calvados
Boîte à lire, Saint-Servan, Saint-Malo, Ille-et-Vilaine
Boîte à lire in Caen, Calvados
Boîte à Lire, Noyant d'Allier, Allier
Boîte à lire, Dampierre-en-Burly, Loiret
Boîte à lire, Illiers-Combray, Eure-et-Loir
Boîte à lire, Chartres, Eure-et-Loir
Boîte à lire, Saint-Romain-au-Mont-d'Or, Rhône

Elizabeth Glaister in Southwell, Nottinghamshire

Elizabeth Glaister (1840–1892) was born in Sussex and died in Southwell, Nottinghamshire. She wrote several novels: The Markhams of Ollerton: A Tale of the Civil War 1642–1647 (1873), A Constant Woman (1878), The Perfect Path (1884), the triple-decker Bernard and Marcia: A Story of Middle Age (1888) and Two and Two: A Tale of Four (1890). She also wrote a book on needlework and a guide to Southwell Minster. The grave here is near the south door of Southwell Minster.

Henri Pierre Roché: Jules et Jim (1953)

I've already written below about Henri Pierre Roché's Deux Anglaises et le continent, but this is his prevous (and first of only two) novel. François Truffaut's film of the novel is far better known, and generally considered to be a major work of the French cinema: Serge Rezvani's (or Cyrus Bassiak's) playing of his song 'Le Tourbillon de la vie', sung by Jeanne Moreau, is  perhaps the most memorable moment, although this isn't in the novel.

The novel also has many others scenes, is a constant sexual coming and going of the main characters Jules (a German based on the writer Franz Hessel), his writer friend the author Henri Pierre Roché, and the femme fatale Kathe here is to some extent a representation of Franz's wife Helen Hessel (née Helen Grund).

Kathe sees life as a constant holiday, although she appears to be a kind of manic depressive, obsessed by suicide, ridden by despair: she sees suicide as an irresistible being, a sort of praying mantis (vide the end of Patrice Leconte's film Le Parfum d'Yvonne).

Trauffaut's film has some beautiful moments, but I couldn't find many in the original novel.