Village in the Vaucluse: Third Edition Paperback – July 18, 1974

Laurence Wylie, a sociologist and a francophile wrote this book about the year, 1950-51 , the year Mr Wylie, his wife and two young sons spent in the small southern France village of Rousillon named Peyrane in the book. Wylie writes about childhood, adolescence, growing up in Peyrane, lives of adults, marriage, setting up a household, making a living, voting, health, getting along with other villagers, growing old. This is not that much different than growing up in a small village in the United States. Different families raise their children in different ways, some strict, other parents more permissive. Parents criticize the way other parents raise their children. The only difference is that France was coming out of World War II. Some of the men had returned from German prisons not long ago. France was trying to get back to normal, people were not prosperous at this time. Readers become acquainted with families, their different ways of life. Miners were working in the ocre mines, families were farming, others were doing different jobs, people had to save, reuse, make do.Some of the villagers took short and inexpensive vacations to Mount Ventoux, mountain of the wind, historical, possibly first climbed by Italian poet Petrarch and his brother and recognized by UNESCO. Mount Ventoux is also used in the Tour of France bike races. Another interesting place to visit if the Fontaine de Vaucluse, also well known by ancients, a pagan fountain blessed by pagan gods. There is an interesting legend about this fountain.Roussillon has changed. It has become very touristy, people from Paris and other areas have moved to the town. The quaries have closed down due to the fear of the sites becoming degraded or destroyed. Because of the ocre deposits, the town is colorful and beautiful, one of the beautiful villages of France. It has changed much since Wylie has lived in this village.Wylie got to know the families, townspeople, farm people who worked harder than those who lived in town. Laurence taught a class at the school teaching English to children. At that time babies were born at home, parents were strict, but loving. Mothers were to be obeyed. Children were shamed and outlawed for wrongdoing both at home and among peers. Tattletelling was discouraged. Many young people had to leave the village to live elsewhere, people need jobs, want to marry and start families. But this is no different than in the United States. In France young men must serve some time in the military.Laurence Wylie writes of how Rousillon was in 1950-51, returns ten years later and tells readers of how things have changed. Television has arrived, people stay home to watch tele, regional accents are being lost. Buying on credit is o.k. In 1950-51 it was unheard of. People need things and don't have money to buy right away. Driving is popular. People have cars and can go places. As in the States, people in Peyrane move, there is no stagnant population. Population is not set in stone. But there is a core group, people who have always lived in Peyrane. Laurence looks them up when he's in town.Nowt back to 1950. One comment on saving electricity and water is that my mother was from Europe and she was always careful about overusing electricity and water. Americans were so wasteful she said. The people seemed to enjoy life, laughing about a woman from Paris who fell into a public toilet, got out and walked to her rental apartment all filthy in front of all the women. There was the run away trailer and steam roller, the theft of the bathrobe and the tomato plants, all to be laughed about. There are some lovers of life people, old Maucorps, no relatives, no money, no worries. Madame Pamard, le Melanie, 97 years old, blind in one eye, deaf in one ear, who lives with her crippled unmarried daughter. These two ladies are far from wealthy but have much zest for life while others with much more lack these people's joy of life. This gives me much to think about. The people of Peyrane are family oriented, responsible for family, take care of the very old and love their kids. There is no divorce..Laurence Wylie returned to Peyrant 25 years later and commented on how life has changed, how it remains the same. The kids are not as well behaved as in yesteryears. The book contains many black and white photographs. When Mr. Wylie returned he contacted the core group to find out what had changed, what had not.

Laurence Wylie took his wife, and two small children to live in the small Provencal village of Roussillon (which he calls Peyrane) in 1950. It was a world so far removed from the modern romantic perception of Provence as an idyll. It was a world slowly trying to shake off the defeat of the Second World War, which had so closely followed the awful bleeding of the First. Psychologically, many of the citizens were still defeated; they refused to plant fruit trees, which would take 5-6 years to yield a crop, fearing they would be destroyed in the interim by Russia and the United States who would use their country as a battleground in the Third. It was still a time of poverty and want, and the peasants would shoot sparrows for food.Wylie includes only one statistical chart in the entire book- three "snap shots" of the town's population, by age group, over a hundred year period. In that period, 1851 to 1946, the population declined by almost 50%. There were numerous contributing factors: the rise of industrialization, improved transportation, silkworm diseases, phylloxera, which destroyed the vineyards, decline in the use of ochre in paint and, of course, the First World War. Each had a significant impact on village life that an outsider tends to view as "static."There is a scene in the movie "Dr. Zhivago" in which the Field Commander Strinlikov asked Zhivago why he traveled with his wife and children - was it to reduce suspicion on him, who might be engaged in "counter revolutionary" activities? Likewise, the presence of Wylie's family was significant in overcoming the prejudice and suspicion of even the most doctrinaire communists - of no small importance in this strongly anti-clerical region. By becoming part of village life, he was able to complete a most effective sociological portrait, covering the major aspects of life, in a charmingly anecdotal manner. First, he locates the village in time and space (I've wondered why he insisted on the "ruse" of naming Roussillon Peyrane when he identifies it so clearly anyhow, including a map! of the town). Then in following chapters he discusses the phases of a human's life, starting in infancy through schooling, adolescences, marriage, setting up a household, making a living, and concluding with old age. He also focuses on communal activities in "getting along with others," the community's relationship with the outside world, the life of the café, community celebrations and organizations.Even with his very best intentions, Wylie is still of the American culture. That is pointedly brought home in an anecdote about the meter reader. First Wylie describes how very little electricity they use - and how low they keep the heat - only to have the meter reader chuckle, shake his head, and proclaim that only the school and the café used more electricity. When I rented a gite in nearby Cabannes in 1989 I thought I was the ultimate conserver of electricity; the gite's owner read the meter, and went "oye"... yes, it was a case of the Americans who "gaspiller" - waste - a topical subject now that gas is at $4 a gal in the USA, and China and India see no reason why they cannot have a Western living standard.In the epilogue section Wylie discusses his return visits to "Peyrane" after ten and twenty-five year periods. Conditions in the village improved far beyond the wildest hopes of the inhabitants of 1950. Perhaps the most stunning revelation to Wylie was realizing that Samuel Beckett had lived quietly in the village as a refuge during the Second World War. During his two years of residence there, no one had told him - it was only when he returned to the USA, and was reading "Waiting for Godot" and there was a passage about Bonnelly's farm in Roussillon... Later, he was able to confirm this with the residents. Supposedly Beckett was inspired to write the play as he waited for a ride on the N-100, to travel the 3 km up to the village. I too have been visiting Roussillon, frequently, over an almost 20 year period, and have seen the village transformed into a chic holiday destination - they even have installed railings along the top of the ochre cliffs!For the first time visitor, or the "recidivist," this is the first book I would recommend for a thorough reading, for the much deeper insights it will give of the life of Provence.

Wonderful book, which I read as a teenager in the 60's and again a month ago after spending a week in Gordes, five miles from Roussillon, the subject of the book. What's amazing about it is how in the space of a sabbatical year (1951), Wylie, an American academic, managed to make so many friends and learn so much about the society. Many more people have read Peter Mayle's books about life in Provence. If they loved Mayle's books they'll love this one too, and learn a lot about France, six years after the end of WW II.

This is a classic of French anthropolgy. It has detailed observations of many aspects of life in a small French village in the 1950s, just after WWII. If you've been reading too many books about the beauties of Provence and the greatlifestyle, you should read this book to see what real French life was like.

A classic anthropological study of a region which, at the time Wylie lived there, was unknown to foreigners. Open-minded, full of empathy, this book taught me a great deal in a pleasant way about Provence in the mid-twentieth century.

Excellent!

This book is sort of a summary of the evolving lifestyles of a small French village over the decades. Most of the information is dated. Ways of earning a living change. The computer age arrives. Tourist "discover" the Vaucluse and life is never the same. This is not a light read, but perfectly acceptable for those of us Francophiles enamored with Provence.

J'avais lu le livre de Wylie il y a des années quand j'étais un jeune élève à UCLA. 50 ans plus tard, j'habite un villagesemblable à celui que décrit Wylie dans son oeuvre magistrale. Il avait un oeil pour le tout du village, semblable à l'oeilque j'ai pour le mien. Sa méthode d'etude, observation -participante est la même que j'utilise, mais sans vouloir écrireà destination de jeunes étudiants universitaire. Son oeuvre, aussi valable aujourd'hui comme il y a 50 ans.

Item arrived promptly and in excellent conditionAs a book I found it too academic .it is a detailed study rather than an interesting look into life in a small village

Bon livre