In the Vicdessos village hall, Florent Antras passionately presented his book “The Unknown Woman of the Pyrenees” on Saturday, November 25, published by Vox Scriba and coupled head to tail with a comic strip, “The Wild Woman” , created by illustrator Guillaume Bertrand.
Much has been said about “the madwoman of the Pyrenees”, a woman who at the beginning of the 19th century lived naked with bears in the mountains, between Suc and Massat. With this book, the writer therefore wanted to put things in their place in relation to everything that had been said and written about this woman, in order to keep “a piece of truth and also to honor her memory”.
The first story concerning her was written in 1814 by the sub-prefect of Ariège, Paul-Gabriel Bascle de Lagrèze, who had the complete file of this enigmatic unknown woman. It was published in the Ariège newspaper, but the file was never found. The story has been taken up by numerous authors who have often transformed, fictionalized or embellished it. But all the texts confirm its existence and its cohabitation with a bear cub.
To write his work and get as close as possible to the real story, Florent Antras accomplished considerable work of research, investigations, collection and consultation of original documents, archives, bibliographies as well as testimonies. He also relied on the book written by Albert Cazes in 1924.
Even today, no one knows the true identity of this woman, given all the names, “witch”, “demon”, “mad”, “savage”, which the writer, out of respect for her, will simply name “the unknown woman of the Pyrenees”.
A captivating, well-researched, beautifully illustrated book which won over the public and which the author signed with great pleasure.
2023-12-01 11:53:52
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