Thinkers and writers of the Plateau

Albert Camus

Let’s set off, dear visitors, to meet Albert Camus. Let’s leave Le Chambon-sur-Lignon on the D151, through the hamlet of La Bourghea, and cross the little bridge over the river Ligne, where Camus, in his blue overalls, used to catch trout. At Moulin, turn right. The path, lined with hundred-year-old beech trees, leads to the Panelier estate, whose restored walls, tower and crenellated gateway are a sight to behold!

Camus arrived in late summer 1942 at the Panelier guesthouse in Mazet-Saint-Voy, run by Sarah Oettly, a relative of his wife Francine. Stricken with tuberculosis in 1931, Francine recommended the fresh, pure mountain air to escape the “furnace” of Oran.

“I’m just writing you a note to give you my news and address. We landed in the mountains in an isolated fortified farmhouse, here good supplies, lots of trees”, 31-08-1942 Albert Camus to Emmanuel Roblès, a writer friend living in Algeria.

August 1942: “Before sunrise, above the high hills, the fir trees are indistinguishable from the undulations that support them… Against the barely faded background of the sky, it looks like an army of savages surging from behind the hill. As the sun rises and the sky brightens, the fir trees grow taller and the barbarian army seems to advance… Then, when the sun is high enough, it suddenly lights up the fir trees tumbling down the mountainside”. Notebooks II

Armee De Resineux Devalant La Montagne P.b

Marcel Pagnol and Saint Agrève

From Paris to Garlaban, Marcel Pagnol regularly came to Saint Agrève for a few days’ rest. He appreciated the village’s calm, but especially the creamy morels, candied thrushes and trout meunière at the Hôtel Jouve… a 3-star restaurant in the Michelin guide in 1933, where Edouard Herriot, industrialists and bankers from Lyon flocked. It was here that Pagnol found the inspiration for “ La femme du boulanger” (“The Baker’s Wife “). One day, he wrote to Samuel Jouve:

” The film I wrote entirely for you is finished, and many people tell me it’s my best film.

Francis Ponge in La Suchère

Of Protestant origin from Nîmes, Francis Ponge, a major writer and poet of the 20th century, came to the Plateau in the late 20s. In fact, many of his texts – Le Galet, La Chèvre, La fabrique du pré, le carnet du bois de pins, La Petite suite vivaraise – refer explicitly to places on the Plateau: La Fayolle, Chante Grenouille, Le Chomor, La Rionde. He stayed at Le Chambon several times, notably during the war, and his friendship with Camus also dates from this period.

Paul Ricoeur a philosopher on the Plateau

Academic, philosopher, theologian, layman, Reformed, his work is immense: “Le Juste” (The Just), “La mémoire, l’Histoire, l’oubli” (Memory, History, Forgetting). He arrived in 1945 at Le Chambon-sur-Lignon after 5 harrowing years as a prisoner in Germany. Arriving at a height of 1,000 meters, Ricoeur was immediately seduced by the atmosphere and became the philosophy teacher for the final year of the Ecole Nouvelle Cévenole, the mixed student body, the feeling of freedom in a school without walls, and the uniquely special contacts between teachers and students. It was there that he met the American Quakers, and the involvement of pastors during the war and in reconciliation movements brought him back in touch with his pacifist commitments. As one of his pupils put it

“He didn’t know about recess, and no one dared to ask. But because he was interesting, it worked.

Further reading: “Le Juste”, “La mémoire, l’Histoire, l’oubli”.

Georges Canguilhem in Mazalibrand

A great contemporary philosopher, Canguilhem married a local girl and became a devotee of our Plateau, where he appreciated the secretive, reserved atmosphere that suited his personality. A Resistance fighter during the war and a member of the MUR, he remained faithful to the invigorating nature of Mazalibrand. Exchanging a few words with the tobacconist in Mazet-saint-Voy when he went to get his newspaper. He was a simple man, some would say a little gruff, but he loved his woods, and had kept from his Lauragais roots a love of the land and of work well done. One day during the war, Georges Canguilhem’s son André followed a man fishing on the banks of the Riou. After investigating, this stranger turned out to be… Albert Camus, who lived at Le Panelier.

To read…

“La connaissance de la vie, Etudes d’histoire et de philosophie des sens, Idéologies et rationalité de l’histoire des sciences de la vie”.

André Chouraqui

World-renowned for his essays, historical works and Bible translations, André Chouraqui, a Jew raised in French-ruled Algeria, became one of the greatest ecumenists of his time, working to bring Jews, Muslims and Christians closer together. But it’s his arrival on the Plateau after the defeat of 1940 that interests us today.

A teacher at the rabbinical school in Clermont-Ferrand, he was forced to flee following the round-up in July 42. He arrived in Tence thanks to a friendship with Pasteur Leenhardt, who took him in at Docteur Héritier’s house in Chaumargeais. For two years, he benefited from the complicity and support of his neighbors, hiding his clandestine activities from representatives of the OSE (to be specified), of which he was a liaison officer with his red bicycle, which he never parted with. He returned many times, notably to greet the Roux family, who had so preciously assisted him in his activities and with whom he maintained close ties.

To read…

“L’amour fort comme la mort”, Robert Laffont 1990.

“Ce que je crois, Grasset, 1979-1985.

In the footsteps of writers...

Some ideas for itineraries on foot, by bike or by car can be found in the book “Sur les pas des écrivains et des penseurs” published by Editions Dolmazon Carnet 2 – du Lieu de Mémoire. Authors: Sophie Ott and Nathalie Heinich.

On Foot

Departure – Le Mazet-Saint-Voy, La Bonne Mariotte with Louis Comte from l’œuvre des enfants à la Montagne and Charles Gide go to worship at Le Mazet temple. Approx. 1h30 round trip.
Departure, Tence, Chaumargeais follow André Chouraqui to the School of the Prophets in Istor. 1h round trip.

Preferably by mountain bike

Departure, Tence, Chaumargeais André Chouraqui visits Albert Camus at Le Panelier. 1h round trip. “Camus regularly went down to St Etienne to maintain his pneumothorax, and I have vivid memories of our encounters in the tortillard that took him to his insulin session and me to find Jewish refugees fleeing persecution: they too, like him, were out of breath”. November 42, André Chouraqui.

By car

A half-day tour of the Plateau:

Fifteen places to discover where 17 great authors stayed between 1925 and 1950, as featured in the exhibition “Ecrivains et penseurs autour du Chambon” (“Writers and thinkers around Le Chambon”).

From La Suchère (Ponge) in Le Chambon, Le Panelier (Camus) in Le Mazet, to Les Ruches (Aron), La Bonne Mariotte (Comte and Gide), Mazalibrand (Canguilhem), then Tence (Poliakov), Les Mazeaux (Simondon) Chaumargeais (Chouraqui), Istor (Gordin and Levitte), with a stint in the Ardèche at St Agrève (Pagnol, Vidal-Naquet) via Le pont du Cholet (Isaac).