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« Tibal lo Garrèl » by Louis Delluc (1958), the first novel ever to be written in
the Occitan language in the Périgord, sees its second volume translated into French
fifty years on. This Occitan-French edition brings young Tibal into our “modern”
world, but the language of his forefathers is not forsaken. Meet the hero of a thrilling
novel set in Huguenot times and written for the children of Occitania (as indicated
in the subtitle)… and discover the illustrations done by Jacques Saraben whose father,
Julien Saraben, was the illustrator of the first edition of “Jacquou le Croquant”.
It is a sad fact that history often repeats itself but thankfully there are men
and women out there, involved in humanistic projects such as this one, who are in
search of enlightenment and truth.
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OCCITAN, THE LANGUAGE OF POETS AND PEASANTS
It is in Occitan that the peasants of the Périgord silently suffered the horrors
of the Wars of Religion, the persecutions and the hangings by the thousand. It was
in Occitan that a profoundly humanist Périgordin school teacher, with a passion
for history, produced from beneath his desktop, four centuries on, a book written
in their names. Audacious, devastating, lashing out at all those who had violated
innocence and childhood, the novel was entitled “Tibal lo Garrèl”. Tibal le Boiteux,
torn this way and that between Catholics and Protestants, relates the journey of
a young peasant through a 16th century Périgord laid waste by the absurd and abominable
Wars of Religion (eight in all) which, according to our schoolbooks, followed one
another between 1561 and 1598. But have these wars ever come to an end?
THE LOST TIBAL
Several editions of this novel had been brought out in the past:
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“Tibal lo Garrèl” Vol. 1, published in Occitan in 1958 by Aubanel.
- “El Garrel”, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, published in Catalan in 1963 by Joan Sales in the collection Club dels Novel-Listes.
- “Tibal lo Garrèl” Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, published in Occitan in 1968 by le Livre Occitan.
- “Tibal lo Garrèl, Tibal le boiteux” Vol. 1, Occitan-French edition published in 2000 by l’Hydre.
Until now the second volume in its bilingual form had not been published.
Two years
ago, Gérard Marty, the president of the “Mémoire et Traditions en Périgord” Association,
which is based in Alles-sur-Dordogne where Louis Delluc was born in 1894, decided
to remedy the situation by publishing the second part of the adventures of Tibal
in an Occitan-French edition in order to restore the original text whilst allowing
everyone access to this great work, finally in its entirety. His idea was to publish
a summary of the first volume, “L’Âme qui saigne”, with texts and images as an introduction
to the second volume which had never been published in French: “La Chair qui souffre”.
Gérard Marty asked Jacques Saraben and Jean-Claude Dugros to join him in this adventure.
Jacques Saraben is a photographer, painter and illustrator; Jean-Claude Dugros,
“majoral du Félibrige”, is our translator into Occitan on www.albuga.info - he also
translates the works of Eugène Le Roy and is an expert on the new written form of
the language of the troubadours. Together they went back to “the source”: Bernard
Lesfargues, a poet and writer who has translated the works of many Occitan and Catalan
authors and who, most importantly, was a friend of Louis Delluc’s (1894-1974). Delluc’s
manuscripts were entrusted to him. Bernard Lesfargues asked Cathy Lapouge to translate
the second volume of « Tibal lo Garrèl » which was to become the subject of her
thesis. Work could begin on the composition. For two years the four men and their
spouses got together on a regular basis to discover all they could about the author
and change the odd word or illustration here and there.
The fruit of their research has just been published, with a preface by the conseiller
général, Jean Ganiayre, who has always been actively involved with the preservation
of the Occitan linguistic heritage.
With Jacques Saraben’s permission, we are delighted to show you most of the illustrations
he has done with feeling, spirit and enthusiasm after extensive study of original
written documents and etchings and paintings.
THE SMELL OF GOATS AND THYME
The novel reveals the shocking contrast between the hero’s love of the simple life
and the horrors of that particular period in history. Joan Sales, a Catalan author
who was introduced to the writings of Louis Delluc by Bernard Lesfargues and who
decided to publish both volumes with his translation into Catalan, puts it better
than anyone.
In a letter to Bernard Lesfargues on August 20, 1962 he writes: « For me, Delluc’s
novel has the inestimable charm of all that constitutes the lost paradise which
was our childhood. He may never mention goats or thyme but, strangely enough, when
I read it and translate it I can smell the goats and the thyme in my village. »
A group of caring people, lovers of Occitan with the will to share with others the
ideal of the brotherhood of man, briskly restored this universal novel to its true
dimension – offering us a French version as well.
The publication has had the support of the Institut Eugène Le Roy and the Conseil
Général de la Dordogne. This Louis Delluc may not be a film maker and Tibal is not
Jacquou le Croquant, but a film adaptation of this magnificent Occitan saga would
without doubt create a sensation.
Sophie Cattoire
THE STORY
Life is hard around Beynac, les Milandes and Castelnaud in the late 16th century,
in our Périgord where Catholics and Protestants are tearing each other apart – here
perhaps more than anywhere else. After “L’Âme qui saigne” poor Tibal lo Garrèl returns
in “La Chair qui souffre”, but his flute and his sling cannot save him from the
hatred, jealousy and violence of his fellow men, despite the high walls of Castelnaud
and the protection of Vivans, the Huguenot captain. Once again he finds himself
vagabonding along the treacherous roads of the Périgord, bravely enduring the conflicts
which he can do nothing about, desperately trying to find a meaning in his life.
The Dordogne, this “Granda Aiga”, gradually brings him solace and he lets himself
be guided by the river. We just hope that, like the passenger on the “bateau ivre”,
the river takes him where he wants to go.
Jean Ganiayre
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