Crana Muralha - Claude Michelet, Joèl Borias

Crana Muralha - Claude Michelet

Novel - Occitan translation by Joèl Borias

It's a field of stones, given to Firmin by his uncle, to "teach him how to live". No one has ever been able to cultivate this part of the Quercy causse, where only a few scrawny oaks and junipers vegetate between the rocks. In spite of everything, the young man decided to take up the challenge: under the stones, of course, there is soil, and Firmin began to remove the stones... This insane task - he was considered insane in the village - was to occupy his entire life. After digging out the soil and planting vines and fruit trees, Firmin returned from the Great War to use the stones from his field to build a great wall around his estate. A man and stones. It's the simplest story in the world. But also one of the most beautiful.

Collection Revira lenga, editions IEO Tarn.

The author:
Claude Michelet (1938 - 2022), author of La grande muraille, lived near Brive in the Limousin region and was a member of the École de Brive. Born in Brive, he was a farmer for a time, and always had a talent for telling the story of the land and those who embody it in his novels. His work has been awarded the Prix des Libraires, the Prix Eugène-Le-Roy and the Prix du Roman Populaire, among other distinctions. In particular, he wrote the famous "Des grives aux loups", the first volume of the great Vialhes saga in Corrèze.

To pay tribute to him, this translation should have been written in the Limousin version, because as we know, the Limousin is the cradle of the first troubadours who went on to perform throughout Occitania. However, here you have a Languedocian version that may give Limousin writers ideas for translations.


The translator:

Joël Bories was born in 1954 in Denat (81), and was employed by Albi town council as a pruning gardener, then, after a bad fall, ended up as a storekeeper. On retirement, he joined the CCOA, where he translated the names of the trees in Parc Rochegude with the help of Pierre Thouy. He also took part in workshops and the radio program "Un còp parlèron". He now runs a conversation workshop in Puygouzon.

The collection: Revira Lenga

At the initiative of the Centre Culturel Occitan de l'Albigeois and in partnership with the Institut d'Études Occitanes du Tarn, a new collection has just been launched by Edicions IEO Tarn: the Revira Lenga collection, translations by members of IEO associations in the Tarn département.