Jean Boudou
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Joan Bodon (; french: Jean Boudou), who was born in Crespin,
Aveyron Aveyron (; oc, Avairon; ) is a department in the region of Occitania, Southern France. It was named after the river Aveyron. Its inhabitants are known as ''Aveyronnais'' (masculine) or ''Aveyronnaises'' (feminine) in French. The inhabitants ...
,
Occitania Occitania ( oc, Occitània , , or ) is the historical region in Western and Southern Europe where the Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is sometimes still used as a second language. This cultural area roughly encompasse ...
(
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
) on December 11, 1920, and died on February 24, 1975, in
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
. He was an author who wrote exclusively in
Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...
although he is credited as being called ''Jean Boudou'' in the French translations of his works. His mother was a ''contaira'', or storyteller, from
Rouergue Rouergue (; ) is a former province of France, corresponding roughly with the modern department of Aveyron. Its historical capital is Rodez. It is bounded on the north by Auvergne, on the south and southwest by Languedoc, on the east by Gévaudan ...
(and distant relative of
Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly , ; born Honoré Balzac;Jean-Louis Dega, La vie prodigieuse de Bernard-François Balssa, père d'Honoré de Balzac : Aux sources historiques de La Comédie humaine, Rodez, Subervie, 1998, 665 p. 20 May 179 ...
) and paved the way for his love and frequent use of traditional Occitan language folktales and figures. Together with
Renat Nelli Renat Nelli (), who was born in Carcassonne, Aude in 1906 and died in 1982, was one of the major Occitan writers of the 20th century. In Vichy France, Nelli joined the French Resistance and in 1945 was one of the co-founders of the Institut d'Es ...
,
Marcela Delpastre Marcela Delpastre (; oc, Marcèla Delpastre ) was an Occitan- and French-language author from Limousin. She was born on September 2, 1925 and died on February 6, 1998. She is known in non-Occitan-speaking France as Marcelle Delpastre. Biography ...
,
Robèrt Lafont Robèrt Lafont (; March 16, 1923 in Nîmes – June 24, 2009 in Florence) was a French intellectual from Provence. He was a linguist, an author, an historian, an expert in literature and a political theoretician. His name in French reads Rober ...
, and
Max Roqueta Max Roqueta ( Argelliers, December 8, 1908 – June 22, 2005) was one of the most famous contemporary Occitan writers. A physician, he was also an activist (he had been president of the Institut d'Estudis Occitans The Institut d'Estudis Occitans (E ...
, Bodon ranks among the most prominent Occitan writers of the twentieth century.


Biography

Upon completing his primary school teaching in his native Crespin, Joan Bodon was admitted to ''cours complémentaire'' in
Naucelle Naucelle (; oc, Naucèla) is a commune in the Aveyron department in southern France. Naucelle station has rail connections to Toulouse, Albi and Rodez. Population Personalities *Ozil de Cadartz, medieval troubadour * Marcellin Cazals, Resis ...
in 1932. He began
stammer Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the ...
ing after hearing news of his beloved grandmother's death in 1934 and never recovered from it. At 17, he entered the ''école normale'' of Rodez in order to be trained as a future teacher. He graduated while working part-time in Rodez, Pau and Saint-André de Najac's technical schools, and started his career in Castanet in 1941 as a primary school teacher. He was then sent to Durenque. From 1943 until the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
liberated his camp at the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, he did forced labour in Breslau,
Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...
. Back in Durenque, Joan was married to Camille Vidal before moving again to Mauron de Maleville (1949–1955) and returning close to home in Saint-Laurent-d'Olt (1955–1967), still as a teacher. He died in Algiers, eight years after being promoted to the then-French colony's capital.


Works

Written entirely in Occitan, his mother tongue, and despite the usual contempt of the
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
ian élite for minority languages, his works include a number of novels, stories and poems inspired by the universality of life. According to Georg Kremnitz, "there is a huge gap between the raw material gathered by Bodon and what he made of it with his writing... Anyway, we know the value of his art, both its literary value and its human value: Bodon ranks among the greatest authors of modern times. Had he written in a majority language, his voice would now be heard everywhere. It is our duty to make sure this voice resounds as far as possible because, unlike so many other invasive voices, his is not closed but open to a more human world..."


Selected works

* Poems (1935–1941) * When I Was Young (Souvenirs des Chantiers de la jeunesse, 1942, unreleased) * The Freshness of River Viaur (poems, 1945, unreleased) * ''L'Evangèli de Bertomieu'' (Bartholomy's Gospel) (1949) * The Song from Home (poems, 1949, unreleased) * ''Los Contes del meu ostal'' (Stories From Home) (1951) * Stories from River Viaur (1952, unreleased) * ''Contes dels Balssas'' (Stories from the Balzacs) (1953) * The Toulouse Cross (unfinished novel, 1954, unreleased) * ''La Grava sul camin'' (The Pebbles on the Path) (novel, 1956, Éditions du Rouergue, 1988) * ''La Santa Estela del centenari'' (novel, 1960) * The Book for My Friend (poems, 1960, unreleased) * ''L'Òme que èri ieu'' (The Man I Was) (unfinished novel, 1960) * ''Lo Libre dels grands jorns'' (The Book Of Great Days) (novel, 1964) * The October Fair (unfinished novel, 1965, unreleased) * ''Lo libre de Catòia'' (Catòia's Book) (novel, 1966) * The Act (unfinished novel, 1967–1968, unreleased) * The New Co-operative (unfinished novel, 1967–1968, unreleased) * Farming Progress in Aveyron (unfinished, 1967–68, unreleased) * Nothing Like an Electro-schock (poems, 1970) * An Occitan's Speech (newspaper chronicle, 1972–1975) * ''La Quimèra'' (The Chimaera) (novel, 1974) * Stories of the Drac (1975) * The Golden Ring (illustrated tale, 1975) * ''Sus la mar de las galèras'' (Sailing to the Galleys) (poems, 1975) * ''Las Domaisèlas'' (The Young Ladies) (fantasy story, 1976) * Letters of Joan Bodon to Enric Molin (posthumous edition, 1986)


Legacy

In 2016, Bodon was included in an exhibition of Occitan literature as an essential author. Bodon's home in Segala has been maintained as a museum, L'Ostal Joan-Bodon, which opened in 2022.


References


Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bodon, Joan Occitan-language writers 1920 births 1975 deaths French World War II forced labourers French expatriates in Algeria