Hubert Blond's Parcours poétiques du Berger Albert is a highly original and in a number of other ways very remarkable book in its fourth edition as new information comes to light. It's a mixture of a very unusual literary investigation, an autobiography, a history of shepherding in Haute Provence, and I only hope its glossy, beau livre (i.e. 'coffee table') format doesn't deter any people who receive it as a present from merely looking at the pretty photos and not reading it through to the climactic (unfortunate word) end. I had in fact seen (but not noted) this book on my first visit to Le Bleuet bookshop in Banon, as 'Berger Albert' or his real name Albert Cicocca (1894-1963) were both unknown to me at the time: it was only on seeing Cicocca's 'theatre' in Le Contadour the same day, and subsequent delving into the internet, that I in fact discovered the existence of this book: clearly, a second visit to Le Bleuet was necessary.
Blond first discovered the pencilled writings by the same person on dry stone sheepfolds and cabanes over a relatively wide area in Provence and later collated them: some are (sometimes politically incorrect) comments on women and sex, some on the unfortunate lot of the shepherd and are usually dated (from 1912 to 1959) and signed 'Berger Albert'. They often rhyme.
The book follows the story of the stones from the time Blond discovered them, collected the writings and found out more about the shepherd than the autobiographical information the stones told, and originally he was unable to trace his death certificate until it was revealed to him that Berger Albert was in fact Albert Cicocca, of Italian parents who moved to Marseille (where Albert was born), although they died when he was relatively young, and in Marseille he received a very basic schooling until he was thrown into the ruthless world of work at the then minimum age of thirteen.
The Epilogue of the book deals with the work of the modern shepherd and with interviews with people who knew Cicocca, particularly in his home in Le Gubian, a hamlet of Revest-des-Brousses. Cicocca had a gramophone and two or three 78 rpm records, was well liked by those who knew him, he smoked in moderation but liked several glasses of wine, was a good and conscientious shepherd, although (not unusually in this profession) he didn't marry. He does on one stone, though, suggest that he lost a girl for reasons not too clear. And military service? World War I? Some interviewees suggest that there must have been a problem, but don't know what.
Hubert Blond, the relentless detective, found out: Albert Cicocca was due for military service from the age of twenty, although his army medical records reveal that he was completely without testicles in his scrotum: he suffered from a condition technically known as cryptorchidism. Without the ability to create testosterone, he was obviously of no use as a fighter. Brilliant book, well worth the 28 euros and return trip to Banon to buy it!
My Albert Ciocca posts:
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My Albert Ciocca posts:
Hubert Blond: Parcours poétiques du Berger Albert
Albert Ciocca in Le Contadour
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