My year in Provence

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A Year in Provence ( "A year in Provence" ) is one of Peter Mayle written trip report , the 1989 , is in German translation since 1992 has been published, and autobiographical elements included. It is about Peter Mayle and his wife, who in the early 1980s describe a year of their lives that they spent in Provence . The reader gets an insight into daily life and the challenges they have to overcome. Mayle's work was a huge success and has been translated into over 17 languages ​​worldwide. In addition to this, the book is viewed alongside its successors as a prime example of a literary initial spark of transcultural enjoyment enhancement in the course of opening up global markets , which has a significant influence on the food culture of the United Kingdom and can change the cultural identity of at least the British living abroad.

Location of historic Provence within France
The modern region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur in south-eastern France

Structure and content

Instead of chapters, the book is divided into months that tell the year of the Mayles in Provence.

Ménerbes
truffle

January

The Mayles are building a new life for themselves in Provence. They buy a house in the village of Ménerbes and meet the first craftsmen who help them renovate their house. You learn a lot about the language and agriculture in Provence and master your first official visit to France .

February

Peter Mayle and his wife have to get used to the rough, unfamiliar weather conditions. The work on her house is making slow progress. They meet their architect and their new craftsmen and indulge in the local culinary specialties.

March

The Mayles meet the eccentric Monsieur Massot. You will also be introduced to the world of truffles . At the end of March they received an anonymous call.

April

It turns out that the unknown caller is Tony, a businessman from London. He is interested in properties in Provence and needs Mayle's help, as he hardly speaks or understands French. Mayle accompanies him to a broker , but is ashamed of Tony's arrogant behavior.

May

The month starts with a bike tour. Work on the house is still ongoing. The Mayles meet Australian students who work in the fields and pick cherries and, unlike the Mayles, have a negative impression of Provence. They receive their first guests and realize that from now on they are no longer tourists .

June

An accordion competition is held in Cavaillon . The Mayles observe the behavior of typical French students in a café, which they have a lot of fun with. They also run into a couple from London that they know only a little. You invite the two, Ted and Susan, to your home. Susan has problems with the food and the climate in Provence. The Mayles are happy to be able to cope better with the living conditions in Provence.

July

Boule balls
Lavender field in the Vaucluse department

Mayle enumerates various stereotypical images of Belgians, French, Swiss, English and Germans. The Mayle couple also receives a visit from their good old friend Benett, who is described as slightly chaotic and clumsy. You will become more and more familiar with French culture and learn a.o. a. know the typical boules game of the country .

August

Gordes

The summer holiday season is approaching and thousands of tourists travel to the Lubéron. The Mayles attend a typical French " dinner party " in Gordes , where they initially feel uncomfortable, but learn a lot about the way the French celebrate. In August there is also a big goat race, which the Mayles are enthusiastic about.

September

From September it will be quiet again in the Lubéron and the tourists will leave. The couple's work on the central heating is completed and they are finally prepared for the coming winter. The hunting season begins and Peter Mayle visits a wine specialist in the region, from whom he buys many wines.

October

Mayle makes a trip to Cavaillon, where he goes to the “Chez Auzet” bakery and gets to know many types of bread and baked goods that were previously completely unknown to him. At home, the couple grapple with ants of ants, while the weather turns rainy, stormy and cloudy.

November

The couple is invited to the “chevaliers' dinner”. This is a formal festival where they drink wine, dine and dance. For example, the reader learns that olive oil , which is considered a luxury in England, is considered common in France.

December

Christmas is approaching, and the Mayles invite all of the artisans involved in renovating their home, including their wives, to a home celebration. The work on her house is also finally being completed. The Mayles sit together on Christmas Eve and agree that they feel comfortable in their house and in Provence and that they want to continue living in this place.

characters

Ratatouille , a specialty of Provence
Grand Luberon

Peter Mayle

The author is passionate about French cuisine . He goes very far when talking about food, whereas he gives little information about his private life. He is open to cultural impressions and experiences, but sometimes he seems to feel superior to the residents of rural Lubéron and to view their education with skepticism. At the beginning of the book, Mayle still had difficulties with the French language. In the course of the story, however, the reader observes his adaptation to the culture, traditions and customs. As the main character, he is the only character in whom a development is evident. All other people are rather flat figures without personal development.

Mrs. Mayle

The reader never gets to know her name, and in general he gets little explicit information. Peter Mayle mostly speaks of "we" and "us". She likes to accompany her husband to weekly markets and shares his love for “cuisine provencale” .

Faustin and Henriette

The couple are the Mayles' neighbors. You manage the winery that Peter Mayle and his wife bought with the house. On the neighboring farms, the somewhat coarse Faustin helps with the slaughter of animals. Nonetheless, he's a personable, soft-hearted person. He and his wife share traditional views and condemn tourists who have vineyards converted into tennis or golf courses. He is a passionate winegrower and proud of his growing area, as well as his wife Henriette, who supports him actively.

Antoine Massot

The neighbor Massot seems rather neglected to the reader. He lives with his vicious dogs in a gloomy house near that of the Mayles and loves to hunt. Mostly he seems xenophobic towards tourists, especially the Germans. This comes from his aversion to the campers who allegedly leave their rubbish on his property or in the wild. In the village he has the reputation of a "quirky" old man, but Mayle emphasizes that he likes Massot, despite his quirks.

Monsieur Menicucci

The chief plumber is always on hand if the Mayles have a problem at home. The helpful craftsman mediates the Mayles Didier with his team of craftsmen for the interior design of your house. Its reliability, however, depends heavily on the urgency it feels, i.e. H. the sooner he can improve his reputation, the more reliable he seems to be.

Didier

Didier leads the craft crew who do most of the renovation work on the Mayle house. His times indicate that he places less value on punctuality than on gaining prestige or the highest possible earnings.

Guests from England

Many friends, but also well-known acquaintances, ask for accommodation in the Mayles' house in order to be able to take a cheap holiday in Provence. Often the visitors become a nuisance and find it difficult to get into the life of the Mayles since they only spend a short time there as tourists.

Petit Luberon

Reception, impact and reviews

Peter Mayle books have been translated into more than 20 languages and there are film adaptations of his works Good Year ( A Good Year ) and "A Year in Provence". Mayle has already received several awards: in 1989 his work “A Year in Provence” received the British Book Award for the best travel story of the year and in 1992 the British Book Award named Peter Mayle Author of the Year. Mayle is also the holder of the title "Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur" (a French Order of Merit), which was awarded to him by the French government.

With the book, Ménerbes became known beyond the borders of France and became an attractive tourist destination, although in the opinion of some experts on Provence there is hardly anything above-average culturally and historically relevant to visit in the narrow town. However, some voices also claim that Mayle's works forever ruined the Luberon as a vacation destination. The multitude of tourists visiting him there, who suddenly appeared on his own terrace, drove the Mayle couple themselves out of the town and into the noble surroundings of the Hamptons after a few years , before they settled again in Provence after four years in Lourmarin . This time, however, he was careful not to include comprehensible descriptions of the location of his place of residence. Every modern travel guide continues to praise its books as introductory reading.

As a reaction to his books, a real literary trend was established, from similar picturesque books about English-speaking culture dropouts, cookbooks , illustrated books and travel guides on the subject of Provence, which in turn encouraged other compatriots to buy a farmhouse or even an estate in France or other countries when they retire to farm. On the other hand, this type of literature already existed almost twenty years before Mayle, when Kathrin Rüegg published Kleine Welt im Ticino , in which she discussed the exit of a successful Swiss businesswoman around 40 while building a dilapidated Ticino homestead in a humorous and timeless way. The humorous English-language successors in autofiction included: Sarah Turnbull with Almost French: A New Life in Paris (2003), Stephen Clarke with A Year in the Merde (2004), Gully Wells with The House in France: A Memoir (2011) and Christopher Hope with Signs of the Heart: Love and Death in Languedoc (1999). At most James Graham Ballard with Super-Cannes (2000) showed a less rosy version of life in the south of France . The Canadian author Kathryn Borel went to Corked: A Memoir (2008) even one step on Mayle by reports of a joint wine tasting trip with her father through southern France by the contact between the two as it were mainly caused by the consumption of wine, such as the ambivalent subtitles Fear and loathing in Bordeaux : A daughter and her dad hit the bottle and hit the road , with which, based on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the associations of a road movie arise. The most successful imitation of the book, however, dealt with a completely different European cultural landscape, Tuscany . Frances Mayes , a professor at San Francisco State University , reported in Under the Tuscan Sun (Chronicle Books, 1996) how she and her husband bought an old mansion in Tuscany and completely renovated it. The timing, the similar theme, the cultural incentive and the humorous style were decisive for the success. This book was also adapted in the film: Under the Tuscan Sun ( 2003 ), with Diane Lane in the lead role.

In the right-wing national front in Aix-en-Provence, however, “My year in Provence” is so hated because it was held responsible for the increased influx of foreign tourists and new settlers. There are now socio-economic analyzes that show a significant increase in British property purchases in the south of France from 1984 2,000 (1984) to 14,000 (1989) up to an estimated 200,000 in 2000 and point to the correlation with Mayle's books.

Reviews and critiques of "My year in Provence"

  • Tilman Steffen: “You can read it over and over again. What the Englishman Peter Mayle writes about his arrival in the lavender -fringed mountains of the Luberon reinforces the wonderful feeling of being on vacation. The story is simple, but Mayle is addicting the reader. I subjected the book to a first veracity test on the couch of a country house in southern France. During the day I read about Ramon, the plasterer, and Didier, the bricklayer, in the evening we could compare Mayle's world with the real French: at a summer festival in the nearby village with wine and duck breast. The best place is when Didier and a few colleagues heave a heavy stone table through the door of a house. In such a situation, every Frenchman is an expert, Mayle writes and shows what true leadership is: "Didier waited until everyone had finished and then ordered what should be done." The Chancellor should read this book. "
  • “The novel is anchored locally in the authentic landscape. Thanks to the local flavor , the book is as much a novel as it is a travel guide and offers a refreshing mix of village anecdotes , sightseeing and restaurant tips and culinary object lessons. British humor paired with French charm, looking at and describing the inadequacies of everyday life with a wink, as if you were there in person. "
  • "A Year in Provence is a light-hearted autobiography as well as a travel / restaurant guide and cultural study of the south of France. (...) His humorous yet affectionate approach will make you long for France, particularly the south, whether or not you've ever been there. (...) Whether you are interested in learning more about French, "the Hexagon", or cuisine française, A Year in Provence is the book to get you started on your cultural discovery of the south of France “.
    • ("My year in Provence is a light-footed autobiography, as well as a travel / restaurant guide and a cultural study of the south of France (...) The humorous and emotional approach will take you for France, especially the south, whether you have been there or not yet. (...) Whether you are interested in getting to know more about the French, "the hexagon", the French cuisine, My year in Provence is the book with which you can go on a cultural journey of discovery The south of France should start ".)
  • "It should not be concealed, however, that books like (...) My year in Provence paint a somewhat nostalgic picture of Provence".
  • "The two books - especially the first - are classic examples of pastoral travel narrative. Their accent is less on movement than on a nostalgic appreciation for a regional way of life which, tough imperiled, remains recalcitrant to change. (...) The Luberon, for Mayle and a string of fortunate (...) visitors, is a gourmet's paradise: a place where food, in plentiful supply, is rightly treasured - especially by those who are relieved of the burden of producing it. Mayle (...) places unashamed emphasis on leisure (...). "
    • (“The two books - especially the first - are classic examples of a pastoral travel story [Note: pastoral in literary English also stands for a shepherd's idyll and not just for the paraphrase rural .] Their emphasis is less on movement than on nostalgic appreciation a regional way of life that, although endangered, remains unruly to change. (...) The Luberon, for Mayle and a stream of happy (...) visitors, is a gourmet paradise: a place where the food is wonderfully selected , the real treasure is - especially for those who do not have to bear the burden of producing it. Mayle (...) insolently emphasizes idleness (...). ")
  • Bill Bryson criticized the subliminal pressure that publishers, editors and editors have exerted on travel writers since then, because they wanted similar books such as "My Year in Provence" or "A Good Year" in the respective publishing program, which is certainly from their economic point of view was understandable. But one could not expect the audience to want to constantly reread the forever similar book.

Adaptation as a television series

In the wake of the success of the book A Year in Provence, Ken Riddington produced a four-part mini-series of the same name for the BBC , which first aired in Great Britain in 1993 and was directed by David Tucker. The main roles are John Thaw as Peter Mayle and Lindsay Duncan as Annie Mayle. Alfred Molina appeared in a supporting role as Tony Havers . Each episode lasts 90 minutes and, based on the structure of the book, deals with the life of the Mayles in Provence during one season. The plot is based on both A Year in Provence and on Mayle's 1991 travelogue Toujours Provence , but completely new storylines have been incorporated. The series differs in particular from the book in terms of the role of Peter Mayles' wife, who appears as an independent character in the series.

While the book humorously describes tourists unable to adapt and the local peculiarities of Provence, the series focuses on conflicts between the various characters: The reclusive neighbor Massot (Rivière in the series) is depicted as a dark, downright terrifying figure. In the series, Peter Mayle is not so much the eager Englishman willing to adapt, but an impatient character who cannot cope with the peculiarities of the rural population. In an interview, the author Mayle expressed disappointment with the film adaptation and criticized the portrayal of himself: “It came across as a story about retirement which was a long way from the truth. And John Thaw, who played me, seemed to be in a perpetually bad mood, whereas I was absolutely delighted with new life in France “. ("The story came across as one about my retirement, which had nothing to do with truth. And John Thaw, who played me, seemed to be in a permanent bad mood while I was absolutely delighted with my new life in France"). The series was largely received negatively; among other things, she is tenth on a list of the 50 worst UK TV shows by Irish journalist John Naughton.

expenditure

  • My year in Provence. (“A year in Provence”). Illustrations by Judith Clancy, translated from the English by Gerhard Beckmann. Droemer Knaur, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-426-03248-1 .
  • My year in Provence. (“A year in Provence”). Droemer, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-426-61744-7 .

literature

  • A. Aldridge: The English as they see others: England revealed in Provence . In: The Sociological Review. 43, 1995, 3, pp. 415-434.
  • Peter Mayle. In: Bernard Alger Drew: 100 most popular nonfiction authors: biographical sketches and bibliographies. Libraries Unlimited, Westport 2008, ISBN 978-1-591-58487-2 , pp. 249-252.
  • Deborah Parsons: Nationalism or Continentalism? Representing Heritage Culture for a New Europe . In: Andy Hollis (Ed.): Beyond Boundaries: Textual Representations of European Identity . Rodopi, Amsterdam 2000, ISBN 90-420-1543-8 , pp. 1-22. (Yearbook of European Studies 15)
  • Joanne Sharp: Writing over the Map of Provence: The Touristic Therapy of A Year in Provence . In: James Duncan, Derek Gregory (Eds.): Writes of Passage: Reading Travel Writing . Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-415-16014-6 , pp. 200-218.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Allison James: Cooking the Books. Global or locals identities in contemporary British food cultures. Pp. 77ff., Therein Discourse 2: Expatriate Food. ; David Howes: Cross-cultural consumption: global markets, local realities . Routledge, London 1996, ISBN 0-415-13889-2 , pp. 84ff.
  2. ↑ This episode also seduces English-speaking travel guides to visit the already historic place; see. James O'Reilly, Tara Austen Weaver: Travelers' Tales Provence: True Stories . Travelers' Tales, San Francisco 2003, pp. 203f.
  3. ^ Elaine Dutka: Seven Days in Provence . In: Los Angeles Magazine, January 2000, pp. 60ff.
  4. ^ Harvey A. Levenstein: We'll always have Paris: American tourists in France since 1930 . University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2004, pp. 267f.
  5. ↑ Dana Facaros, Michael Pauls: Provence . Cadogan Guides, London 2006, p. 216.
  6. ^ Janette Norton: Walking in Provence . Cicerone Press Limited, Milnthorpe 2003, p. 33.
  7. ^ Monica Larner: Working and Living France . Cadogan Guides, London 2007, p. 109.
  8. ↑ Pam Stagg, Neville Walker: Provence Spirallo Travel Guide: Magazine. Info and tips. Tours. Travel atlas . National Geographic Society / Dumont, Ostfildern 2009. p. 51.
  9. ^ Nicola Williams: France . Dumont, Ostfildern 2007, p. 930.
  10. ^ Carolyn A. Durham: Back to the Future. Nation and Nostalgia in Joanne Harris's "Blackberry Wine" . In: Carolyn A. Durham: Literary globalism: Anglo-American fiction set in France . Bucknell University Press, Lewisburg 2008, p. 81.
  11. ↑ See the review list at the time: The Rotarian , January 1995, pp. 9ff. This leads u. a. also published an illustrated book to which Mayle only contributed the text.
  12. ↑ z. B. in Morocco ; Suzanna Clarke: A House in Fez: Building a Life in the Ancient Heart of Morocco . Simon and Schuster 2008.
  13. ↑ Americans seem to see their dream home in Mexico and explicitly refer to Mayle in their similar books; Barry Golson : Gringos in Paradise: An American Couple Builds Their Retirement Dream House in a Seaside Village in Mexico . Simon and Schuster 2008, p. 122.
  14. ^ David Bouchier: The Cats and the Water Bottles: And Other Mysteries of French Village Life . ASJA Press, New York 2002, p. 1.
  15. ↑ Kathrin Rüegg: Small world in Ticino. Müller Rüschlikon, Zurich, Stuttgart, Vienna 1974.
  16. ↑ The switch who became a climber. In: Tages-Anzeiger . dated June 17, 2011
  17. ↑ An Englishman in Paris. My year with the French (“A Year in the Merde”). Piper, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-492-26274-3
  18. ^ Andrew Whittaker: France: be fluent in French life and culture . Thorogood Publishing, London 2008, p. 75.
  19. ↑ Kathryn Borel Jr: Corked: A Memoir , John Wiley and Sons, Mississauga 2009.
  20. ^ Sarah Parsons Zackheim, Adrian Zackheim: Getting Your Book Published For Dummies . Wily Publishing, New York 2000, p. 27.
  21. ^ David Theo Goldberg, Ato Quayson: Relocating postcolonialism . Blackwell Publishers, Malden 2002, pp. 107f.
  22. ^ Nick Gallent, Alan Mace, Mark Tewdwr-Jones: Second homes: European perspectives and UK policies . Ashgate Publishing, Burlington 2004, p. 100.
  23. ↑ 19 Books for Vacation . In: The time . July 16, 2010.
  24. ↑ www.frankreich-sued.de
  25. ^ Laura K. Lawless: A Year in Provence, by Peter Mayle . In: french.about.com
  26. ↑ Thomas Droste: Provence: a companion to the art places and natural beauties in sunny France. DuMont, Cologne 2004, p. 221.
  27. ↑ Patrick Holland, Graham Huggan: Tourists with typewriters: critical reflections on contemporary travel writing . University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 2000, p. 40.
  28. ↑ Michael Shapiro: A sense of place: great travel writers talk about their craft, lives, and inspiration . Travelers' Tales, San Francisco 2004, p. 130.
  29. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108993/
  30. ^ Peter Mayle: 20 years in Provence . In: The Connexion. France's English-Language Newspaper . December 2009
  31. ↑ The 50 worst ever UK TV shows? - The Guardian, Aug. 21, 2006