Le Temps des Amours. Souvenirs d'enfance.
First edition.
A very fine copy one of 25 printed on Dutch paper, in publisher's wrappers, as issued.
In-4 of 329 pp., (1) blank p., (5) pp.
Publisher’s printed brochure, uncut copy, as issued.
220 x 140 mm.
Pagnol, Marcel. Le Temps des Amours. Childhood Memories. Paris, Julliard, 1977.
First edition of this autobiographical novel by Marcel Pagnol, printed in only 125 copies.
Precious copy from the deluxe edition, one of 25 printed on Holland Van Gelder, the finest paper.
An autobiographical novel by Marcel Pagnol, Le Temps des Amours is the fourth and final volume in the Childhood Memories series, already composed of My Father’s Glory (1957), My Mother’s Castle (1959), and The Time of Secrets (1960).
Le Temps des Amours consists of 10 chapters found in the author’s files after his death and compiled as is by editor Bernard de Fallois. A large number of the texts had, however, acquired their final form.
The greater part recounts episodes from his life as a day boarder at Lycée Thiers in Marseille, which he entered in 1905, interwoven with holiday adventures in his beloved hills.
His love for Provençal land stands out in the Childhood Memories, where it merges with the transformation of memory. He evokes real people he loved but who, as they receded into the past, became transformed into characters. And in recounting true scenes, the memoirist takes as much pleasure as the novelist who lets his imagination run free; in a way, he is just as free. Pagnol said: “If I had been a painter, I would have only painted portraits.” Those he drew of the characters from his childhood remain wonderfully alive.
At a time when regional cultures strive to reconnect with their traditions and recover their roots, it is worthwhile to recognize in Marcel Pagnol a kind of forerunner” (Guy Le Clec’h).
“Nothing shows better than Le Temps des Amours how Pagnol’s genius was above all a realistic one. The things, the people, the scenes he liked to describe were always those of real life” (Bernard de Fallois).
Pagnol first editions on large paper and preserved in their original wrappers are highly sought after.
