23 July 2018

Émile Guillaumin in Ygrande, Allier (03)



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In this house just a few hundred metres from Ygrande, the 'peasant writer' (yes, I know: a terrible expression) Émile Guillaumin (1873–1951), heavily influenced by Eugène Le Roy's Jacquot le croquant, wrote his generally considered masterpiece La Vie d'un simple – not an autobiography but a novel – and received numerous eulogies from many prominent figures of literature. He failed to receive the Goncourt, although he was unsurprisingly supported by Octave Mirbeau.

A reconstruction of Émile Guillaumin's bed, plus his original desk in the foreground.

The Guillaumin family, circa 1930s.


The monument to Émile Guillaumin in the centre of Ygrande.


The grave of Émile Guillaumin and his wife Marie (née Chalmin). I can find no images of Émile Guillaumin's grave online, so fully welcome Bertrand Beyern's book (or Bible, as we refer to it) for indicating its general whereabouts. Beyern's book is absolutely necessary for anyone interested in where interesting people are buried.

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