Was Jean Giono talkative?
We do not know ;
what is certain is that he perfectly mastered the art of conversation.
As proof, his interviews with Marguerite Taos Amrouche, recorded in 1955 and which follow those he gave to Taos and his brother Jean Amrouche in 1952. They are published today under the rather neutral title of
Propos et Récits
.
It is too little to say, as the writer turns out to be a prodigious storyteller.
Everyone was bored, we had to set up our own little cinematograph, that we have our little personal distractions
Jean Giono
We can see it from here: Giono settles in his office in Haute Provence, stuffs his pipe and begins.
His interlocutor nods, exclaims, reminds him.
She affectionately calls him "Giono", he interrupts her:
"Don't start flinching with your female soul!",
But Taos' admiration is enough fuel to fuel the story machine.
Giono has something to hold on to.
His father, he confides, a shoemaker in Manosque, loved to tell:
“I had only to close my eyes…
” The stories came from Italy, through the Carbonaro grandfather, or from Paris, through the grandfather zouave
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