Là (L.-A., Loire-Atlantique): variations autobiographiques et départementales, suivi de Frères oiseaux by Jean-Claude Pinson

Abstract

Reviewed by: Là (L.-A., Loire-Atlantique): variations autobiographiques et départementales, suivi de Frères oiseaux by Jean-Claude Pinson Aaron Prevots Pinson, Jean-Claude. Là (L.-A., Loire-Atlantique): variations autobiographiques et départementales, suivi de Frères oiseaux. Joca Seria, 2018. ISBN 978-2-84809-311-6. Pp. 279. Loosely a memoir, this lucid, accessible essay collection explores personal and family history, emphasizing relationships with parents and grandparents as well as the author's own trajectory with regard to space and place, briefly in Paris but otherwise within the three parts of the Loire-Atlantique—Nantes, Saint-Nazaire, and Tharon-Plage—that continue to shape his own and others'"géographie intime" (12). Though tangents inherent to personal essays do appear, this volume's honest, focused reflections touch consistently and with welcome depth on how the past and present interweave. The overall approach is relatively modest, attuned to the world's murmur and avoiding lyrical flourishes, yet subtly and effectively conveying through this very restraint a great many sights and sounds, narrative twists and turns, and historical and interpretive nuances. The tales, told within twelve sections and their various subsections, reprise at times Pinson's fascination with what he sees as a movement today toward individual creativity, in the form of a poétariat quietly formed by workers of many kinds and a related attitude of poet(h)ical awareness of the Other. However, they primarily delve into other, related themes: sensitivity to class differences and community; awareness of a multifaceted "pulsion vitale" (175); the desire to consecrate human beings' collective time by arriving—humbly, patiently, circuitously—at a "vérité vivante" formed by our surroundings, particularly the range of local settings, people, and events through which one can "ménager toutes sortes de fenêtres pour des arrière-pays nombreux, multiples" (176). Local color, so to speak, appears in abundance, whether with tenderness or with self-deprecating clarity and humorous turns, not least Pinson's avowals concerning his early years as a staunch militant. Careful editing, in the form of asides and reminders that anticipate questions we might have, helps the reader track the Pinson family story. Astute, selective references to fellow writers, notably Gracq, Aragon, Vallès, Lyotard, Mallarmé, Quignard, Bailly, Bachelard, Michelet, Corbin, Hegel, and Leopardi, reinforce important points regarding, for example, how imagination structures our immersion in urban and rural spaces, including how we can rethink the sacred when we gather sensory information "capabl[e] de rendre à la vie toutes ses couleurs et sa ferveur entière" (91). A considerable strength in this respect is the regular evocation of locations in and around Nantes. We gain insight into its postwar, pre-banlieue decades and the calming effect of the Loire's waters, as well as its spatial and sociological divisions, for instance via chapters that discuss pastoral settings, rugby, the train station, and the highs and lows of the author's "famille de cheminots" (221). As the book progresses, we learn much about Saint-Nazaire, in its idiosyncratic way a colorful and luminous port city "qui vous habite au plus profond des affects, des entrailles et des neurones" (179). We also are sensitized to the difficulties of aging and of seeing loved ones pass, against the [End Page 245] backdrop of beach settings further south where retirees and others do their best to stay young and free. In sum, an articulate, cogent, often moving look at "les contours d'une existence" (276). Aaron Prevots Southwestern University (TX) Copyright © 2019 American Association of Teachers of French