Giono and the Contadour - Lucette Heller-Goldenberg

Afterword \n \n That my joy remains by Jean Giono, published in 1935, had created an excitement in the Interwar period among young people, eager to discover “the true riches” of which the writer spoke in his first works. They will gather around him to experience the poetic adventure of Contadour until the Second World War. \n \nYoung people, at this time, are looking for true values ​​in a world which failed in 1914, since it sank into the abomination of the First World War. The return to the earth, the celebration of nature, peace, communion between beings, all social classes, all nationalities combined, the discovery of diversity, of true camaraderie encourage us to live differently, far from fury and noise, of the race for money, of the worrying nationalism which rumbles and threatens. \n \nBobi, “the man with caring hands”, main character of Let my joy remain , spokesperson for the Manosquin writer seems to know the secrets of joy. It would be enough to submit to the rhythm of nature, to integrate into the cosmic environment, to forget the intensive exploitation of the earth and the dehumanized, timed work imposed by an infernal race for profit to listen to the song of world. \n \nAt a time when paid leave is being created, young people are discovering a new philosophy in the face of a static and sterile world that no longer satisfies them. They find in Giono a mentor. he who celebrates the harmony of the human, animal and plant kingdom, orchestrated by the God Pan and governed solely by natural laws. \n \nThe poet seduced the generations of the time, but his poetic intuition is a harbinger of the demands of May 68, and currently of the thinking of ecologists, politicians and philosophers, concerned with preserving humanity and planet that shelters it. The dangers that threaten could herald irreversible catastrophes if we do not provide any remedy to our way of life which now prevents us from considering the future with optimism. More than ever, Jean Giono's words resonate in today's world. Edgar Morin in Terre-patrie in 1993 also regrets “the collapse of poetic hope which spread a great sheet of prose over the world” (p. 203). \n \nThe term ecology was certainly used for the first time by Haeckel in 1866 in his General Morphology of Organisms , but it was Giono who was its champion. His pen and the magic of the words it generates continue to enchant us. Man needs bread and water to nourish his body, but he also needs dreams, ideals and poetry to nourish his soul. Giono in search of true riches explores a path that can lead us so that our joy remains. \not

Lucette Heller-Goldenberg

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Nice, January 202

\n Lucette Heller-Goldenberg \n \nDistinguished university professor, Lucette Heller-Goldenberg was born in 1942 in Marrakech. She worked at the AIU College in Nice, then in higher education in Weingarten (Germany, Baden-Württemberg), Clermont-Ferrand and Cologne (Germany, Rhineland Westphalia). \n \nHis ^3rd Cycle Doctorate Thesis on Jean Giono and the Contadour was published by Belles Lettres in Paris in 1972. His State Doctorate Thesis on The History of Youth Hostels from the Origins to the Liberation was published in 1985 by the University of Nice, republished by the ANciens Amis des Auberges de Jeunesse, Aix-les-bains, 2001. \n \nShe created at the University of Cologne a cycle of research and conferences on literature French-speaking Maghreb and published an annual review, Le Cahier d'Etudes Maghrébines , which to date totals 25 issues.