Radio, television, written press… Like a literary grand prize, “L'Homme-chevreuil” (Éditions Les Arènes) caused a sensation and its author, Geoffroy Delorme, made the rounds of the media.
Because the subject if it does not make you smile, at least calls out.
Only, this is not a first shot!
Already in 2017, with “In the intimacy of the deer”, a self-published photo book, the one we nickname, even if he denies it, the Robinson Crusoe of the forests or the Mowgli of today. the tour of the book fairs of France and Navarre.
If Geoffroy agreed to write this book, it is above all “to answer people who wanted to know more about me and my friends.
I wrote down all the questions as the shows progressed.
Les Arènes, which also publishes Peter Wohleben
[Editor's note: author of the bestseller “The Secret Life of Trees”]
, were interested in the bond developed between the animals and me.
It is not a guide for survivalists, nor a pamphlet of environmental and political ecologist.
I do not care.
I only explain that the deer made me discover the world, that the forest is doing very badly while it is vital and that because of its intensive exploitation and of the hunting which completed it.
"
Deer, curious and playful animals
The work begins with the author's return to consumer society after a whole year spent in the company of deer, with "[his] pants all cracked with earth that could stand up straight like a sculpture".
Over the pages, the reader plunges into the adventure, which began in 2003. At 18, the Rolivalois "did not [feel] out of place in his family where social ties did not exist".
So instead of joining a gang or smashing cars, he took refuge behind his home, on the edge of the forest.
First, a few hours.
“Then I met Daguet, a roe deer.
He was watching me and, gradually, he got used to my presence, my smell, my way of moving.
At that time, I was spending 18 hours a day in the beech forest.
After two months, we were friends.
He taught me what plants to eat and where to sleep during the day and live at night.
The great thing is that the deer expect nothing in return.
"
"People come to see me as a little weird guy"
Thus, over the course of his visits, the one who has lived for ten years in immersion with the deer will meet 43 other specimens and will see the birth of Chévi: “He will be my best friend.
He will never leave me until his predation-free death in 2019 at the age of 16.
I discovered her body under her holly.
It shocked me.
It's still the worst day of my life and I think about it all the time.
Then nature did its job.
"
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Today, photographer and author, Geoffroy, 36, admits that after this philosophy of life, "you cannot reintegrate as you wish".
“I am isolated, I have no human friends, only good relationships.
People come to see me as a weird guy who's had a funny story.
Only, I cannot free myself from civilization, so, I hope that this positive book will serve to enlighten the readers on the situation of the forests and that people have a better consideration of my friends the deer.
Me, I was happy under the trees.
"
“L'Homme-chevreuil”, published by Les Arènes, 251 pages, € 19.90.