Max Jacob had made the small village on the banks of the wild river his own: once his wild years in Montmartre had passed, he recognized himself more in “the supernatural peace of the banks of the Loire” and the kindness of simple people rather than in the tumult and the worldliness. This village and its inhabitants failed to save it from its tragic destiny.
Max Jacob et Pablo Picasso – Photos Wikipédia (photo de Max Jacob by Carl Van Vechten, Library of Congress)
By Izabel Tognarelli
Max Jacob converted to Catholicism in 1919. His baptism took place five years earlier, with Pablo Picasso as his godfather. But what could the sincerity and fervor of his conversion do at a time when anti-Semitism was so prevalent? And where homosexuality was severely repressed. A quarter of a century later, the Gestapo came to arrest the poet in Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, a Loire village where he had lived since 1936. Imprisoned in the Orléans military prison then transferred to Drancy via the Austerlitz station, his departure for Auschwitz was scheduled for March 7. Death came to deliver him before: on March 5, pneumonia took him away. It followed the conditions of his arrest and detention, given his state of health and his age.
A very real visit from Picasso, but little known
Seven years earlier, on January 1, 1937, Pablo Picasso had visited him in his retreat in Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. He came with the photographer Dora Maarhis new partner, and his son Paulo, then aged 16. This surprise visit, an episode little known to the general public, is mentioned in a few letters from Max Jacob addressed to friends. But we know nothing of the content of the conversation between the painter and the poet. “What did they say to each other? And above all, why did he come after seven years of absence? I plunged into this biographical void, into this silence of history,” tells us Géraldine Jeffroy, author of “ One Sorrow Too Many, Max Jacob and Picasso », published by Diabase editions.
A fictionalized biography imbued with realism
In this short novel of around a hundred pages, the protagonists are presented in their physical and character traits; their gestures are outlined before our eyes as readers just as they took shape during the creative process followed by the author: six months of preparatory work followed by six months of writing, as for each of her novels. Details, which might seem anecdotal, contribute to the realism of this story that she wrote during the covid period. This context prevented her from going there, contrary to her usual practice: “I went to Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire after writing this novel. I was a little anxious: I was afraid of having been wrong in what I had mentioned. But actually, I don’t feel like it.”.
We also find “the touch” of Géraldine Jeffroy through the letters of Max Jacob to his friend Jean Cocteau : “In all my books so far, there are letters. Max Jacob was a great letter writer, so it was obvious. I have read a lot of his letters; I soaked it up so much that in the end, I was able to write like him, at least I think”. In this novel, we salute the art of dialogue and the skill with which the author captures the complexity of the links that interact between the protagonists.
Géraldine Jeffroy has written other fictionalized biographies, notably A summer at Islette (Editions Arléa, another Touraine publishing house), where she explores in the same way the daily life of Rodin and Camille Claudel in the castle where they lived in Touraine. The next one will be released in May and will be about Calder, in his house in Saché.
Portrait of Max Jacob by the painter, sculptor, illustrator and poet Roger Toulouse – Photo Gérard Poitou
A year under the sign of the poet
In 1949, the remains of Max Jacob were transported to the cemetery of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, where he has rested ever since, according to his wish. Sunday, March 10, an official ceremony is held in this cemetery in tribute to the poet. At 2 p.m., at the Belvédère (interpretation center, 55 rue Orléanaise, in the center of the village), the poet Éric Désordre will evoke Max Jacob through his letters (by reservation at 02 34 52 02 45 or at belvedere@valdesully.fr ).
The tribute to the martyr poet is also done through a writing and illustration competition, intended for schools (information from the libraries of Val de Sully, Belvédère and on www.valdesully.fr. Deadline for submission: March 24) as well as an exhibition at the village library (collection of manuscripts, correspondence, illustrations and photographs), starting March 14.
As for postal art lovers, they will meet on Thursday April 25 and Friday April 26, from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Finally, certain places frequented by Max Jacob have remained unchanged. Several guided tours on this theme will be offered throughout the year, starting May 5 (10:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.). Other meetings and more information on www.belvedere-valdesully.fr
2024-03-06 22:22:32
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