Dr Tony Shaw: 01/03/2020

28 March 2020

Jules Tellier, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime (76)

Jules Tellier (1863-89) was a writer, poet and journalist born in Le Havre and died at the age of twenty-six in Toulouse. He spent many years teaching and, after a journey in Algeria and Spain, died of typhus. This monument, by Antoine Bourdelle in 1895, is in Parc Saint-Roch.

Boîte à lire, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime (76)

The Boîte à lire in the Docks Vauban shopping centre, Le Havre. Anyone is allowed to either read a book in the centre or take it away, with no obligation to return it, as is usual. The difference is that they call these books 'Livres nomades' and affix a huge label with this name to each book. The way it works is that the Armand Salacrou library in Le Havre is the place to take your donations, and then they are changed into 'Livres Nomades'. As we'd already donated our read and/or unwanted books elsewhere, I took Claudie Gallay's Mon Amour ma vie and François Bégaudeau's Dans la diagonale.

27 March 2020

Boîte à lire, Bergues, Nord (62)

One cute, tiny Boîte à lire just at the bottom right corner of the belltower in Bergues, and in it a copy of Vernon Sulllivan's Et on tuera tous les affreux (1948). Although the edition says that this is translated from the American (English) by Boris Vian, it was of course written by Vian himself under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan. Boîtes à lire wouldn't be possible in England: people would just nick the books for resale. Two adjoining countries, but two enormous worlds apart.

Boîtes à lire:
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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

Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, Bergues, Nord (62)

The now very famous belfry or bell tower in Bergues which plays such a prominent role in director and actor Dany Boon's amazingly successful film Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (2008), which was unbelievably wincingly translated into English as Welcome to the Sticks. It became the most successful French film ever made, overtaking La Grande Vadrouille (1966). Boon played the bellringer in this as Antoine Bailleul, and Boon's great-uncle had in fact been the bellringer here. As there was so little camera room, though, the scenes in the film in the 'tower' were shot in a studio in Arpajon, Essonne, using polystyrene 'bells' and with beams made of fake wood.

The real post office in Bergues wasn't used, but this building belonging to GDF (Gaz de France) was, although the interior shots shown as the post office were again taken in the studio in Arcajon.

This plaque affixed to the wall states that the building, made famous by the film Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, was given to the town by Gaz de France. It was in June 2008 that the PDG of Gaz de France gave the keys to the mayor of Bergues in the presence of Dany Boon.

The spot where Kad Merad (Philippe Abrams) and Dany Boon relieved themselves in the Canal de la Colme after numerous alcoholic drinks provided by their customers (itself a homage to Jacques Tati's Jour de fête).

And finally, where a drunken Kad Merad ended up, flying onto the diners on the terrasse of the Café de la Poste (here renamed Café de la Porte), the police in hot pursuit of him.

Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis:
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Dany Boon's Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis
Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, Bergues, Nord

16 March 2020

Rémy Callot, Carvin, Nord (62)

Rémy Callot was born in 1926 in Oignie into a working-class family. At the age of fourteen his forearm was blown away by a grenade he was playing with. He became interested in ceramics, travelled around the world immersing himself in different cultures and learned to speak Chinese. In 1966 he bought a property in Carvin, with a concrete exterior surrounding the house. On retirement in the late 1980s he began work on the exterior with these mosaics. He died in 2001 and his property went to seed. The town hall bought the property in 2006, collecting as many objects as it could before necessarily destroying it.

Art brut (Outsider Art) and associated:
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Rémy Callot, Carvin (Nord)
Carine Fol (ed.): L'Art brut en question | Outsider Art in Question
Kevin Duffy, Ashton-in-Makerfield
The Art Brut of Léopold Truc, Cabrières d'Avignon (34)
Le Musée Extraordinaire de Georges Mazoyer, Ansouis (34)
Le Facteur Cheval's Palais Idéal, Hauterives (26)
The Little Chapel, Guernsey
Museum of Appalachia, Norris, Clinton, Tennessee
Ed Leedskalnin in Homestead, Florida
La Fabuloserie, Dicy, Yonne (89)
Street Art City, Lurcy-Lévis, Allier (03)
The Outsider Art of Jean Linard, Neuvy-deux-Clochers (18)
Jean Bertholle, La Fabuloserie, Yonne (89)
Jean-Pierre Schetz, La Fabuloserie, Yonne (89)
Jules Damloup, La Fabuloserie, Yonne (89)
Camille Vidal, La Fabuloserie, Yonne (89)
Pascal Verbena, La Fabuloserie, Yonne (89)
The Art of Theodore Major
Edward Gorey's Yarmouth Port, Cape Cod, MA
Marcel Vinsard in Pontcharra, Isère (38)
Vincent Capt: Écrivainer : La langue morcelée de Samuel Daiber
The Amazing World of Danielle Jacqui, Roquevaire (13)
Alphonse Gurlie, Maisonneuve (07)
Univers du poète ferrailleur, Lizio, Morbihan
Les Rochers sculptés de L'Abbé Fouré, Rothéneuf, Saint-Malo
Robert Tatin in Cossé-le-Vivien, Mayenne
René Raoul's Jardin de pierre in Pléhédel, Côtes d'Armor
La Demeure du Chaos, Saint-Romain-au-Mont-d'Or, Rhône (69)
Emmanuel Arredondo in Varennes Vauzelles, Nièvre (58)
Musée de la Luna Rossa (revisited), Caen, Calvados (14)
La Fontaine de Château-Chinon, Nièvre (58)

Casimir Delavigne, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime (76)

Casimir Delavigne (1793-1843), born in Le Havre, poet and dramatist, outside the Palais de justice, Le Havre.

Berdardin de Saint Pierre, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime (76)

Berdardin de Saint Pierre's statue outside the Palais de Justice, Le Havre.

Nude, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime (76)

Just off the Boulevard Foch and in front of the Square Saint Roch, this superb sculpture is called L'Été and is by the sculptor Bernard Mougin.

Jules Durand in Le Havre, Seine-Maritime (76)

A tribute to the anarchist and trade unionist docker Jules Druand (1880-1926), of the 'quai de charbon', who was unjustly accused of the death of a 'scab' and condemned to life imprisonment in 1910. A worldwide campaign demanded his release, and in 1918 he was found innocent. But already devastated by the injustice, Durand died in an asylum near Rouen in 1926.

Promenade Littéraire #20: Maylis de Kerangal, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime (76)

#20, Maylis de Kerangal, L'Université. Kerangal grew up in Le Havre and her novel Réparer les vivants (2004) is set in Le Havre and has several descriptions of the town.

Promenade Littéraire #19: Émile Zola, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime (76)

#19, Émile Zola (1840-1902), La Gare. The plot of Zola's La Bête humaine (1890) is set in Le Havre station. His protagonist is railway worker Jacques Lantier, who works the Paris-Le Havre line. Jean Renoir adapted the book into a film in 1938. Sartre liked this area, and in La Nausée Roquentin leaves 'Bouville' via the train.

Promenade Littéraire #18: The Docks, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime (76)

#18, The Docks. The dock area is mentioned in several literary works dedicated to the union leader Jules Durand, probably most notably Boulevard Durand by Armand Salacrou (1960). Jean Rolin's Terminal Frigo (2005) traced the history of the dockers in several large ports, including Le Havre. The dock area is now given to commercial, educational and cultural purposes.

Promenade Littéraire #17: Henry Miller, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime (76)

#17, Henry Miller, Saint-François. In Miller's novel Tropic of Cancer (1934) the protagonist arrives at the station in Le Havre. He climbs onto a horse-drawn cab to Saint-François, the site of most of the action in Le Havre in the book. He finds the place enchanting. Saint-François for a long time was the area of fishermen and brothels. This area is also the subject of a poem by Francis Carco and Pierre Mac Orlan's Quai des brumes, famously adapted into a Marcel Carné film with Jean Gabin and Michèle Morgan. Émile Danoën wrote a book about this area: Une maison soufflée aux vents (1951). And let's not forget Kaurismäki's film Havre (2011).

Promenade Littéraire #16: Jean Dubuffet, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime (76)

#16, Jean Dubuffet, Rue J-B Eyriès. In Biographie au pas de course (2001) the painter and writer Dubuffet (1901-1985) mentions his childhood in Le Havre, the family business in the rues Juste Viel and Jean-Baptiste Eyriès. But he appears to have mixed feelings about the town, as noted in a letter to his friend Jacques Berne, a poet from Le Havre.

Promenade Littéraire #15: Various Writers, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime (76)

#15, Various writers, Lycée François 1^er. In Guignol's Band Céline mentions his grandfather Auguste Destouches, who was professor of rhetoric at this school in the 1850s. Jean Dubuffet, Armand Salacrou, Raymond Queneau and Georges Limbour were pupils here in the 1920. Sartre and Raymond Aron taught philosophy in the 1930s. In La Nausée Roquentin does some research here. Pascal Quignard probably makes more references to the school than any writer, and he was at the school when it was still in ruins after the bombardments; his father taught there. The school was also part of Armand Frémont's memory of the town.

Promenade Littéraire #14: Honoré de Balzac, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime (76)

#14, Honoré de Balzac (1903-1976), La Côte d'Ingouville. Balzac set the action of his novel Modeste Mignon (1844) in this former commune. He says Ingouville is to Le Havre what Montmartre is to Paris.

Promenade Littéraire #13: Raymond Queneau, Rue Casimir-Périer, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime (76)

#13, Raymond Queneau (1903-1976), Rue Casimir-Périer. Queneau was born and grew up in Le Havre and his novel Un rude hiver (1939) is set in the town. Several scenes are set in a bookshop on this street, and the book also remembers his family haberdasher's on Rue Thiers.

Promenade Littéraire #12: Pascal Quignard, Hôtel de Ville, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime (76)

#12, Pascal Quignard, Hôtel de Ville. Quignard spent part of his childhood in Le Havre, and has often mentioned the town in his writings and interviews. Le Nom sur le bout de la langue (1993) is one such book.

Promenade Littéraire #11: Michel Leiris, Place Perret, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime (76)

#11, Michel Leiris (1901-1990), Le Havre bombardé. Leiris enjoyed going to Le Havre, and mentions it in several of his works. In L’Âge d’Homme (1945) he writes of the town after the bombings.