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Today, "Towards Calais, in Ordinary Time" by James Meek, published on January 21, 2022 by Éditions Métailié.
Alain Raimbault, contributor to the 20 Minutes
Books reading group
, recommends
To Calais, in Ordinary Time
by James Meek, published on January 21, 2022 by Éditions Métailié.
His favorite quote:
"There is among them a fellow, Buisse, the one who transports the bodies and puts them in the ground, and whom everyone thought was an evil beggar. He was one of the first infected, and now he is healthy again. No one will ever know what motivates the choices of the Almighty. Everyone should attend mass and pray their rosaries, light candles, stay dry and cool, drink the herbs they need, sprinkle holy water on the threshold of their house, keep out the south wind, but last resort, everything rests on providence. »
Why this book?
Because the author, thanks to a profusion of details,
presents to us in a very realistic way the arrival of the Black Death in the south of England in 1348. But more than this epidemic and its ravages, there are the descriptions of the manners of the time which fascinate because the actions of the characters are moved by values forgotten or unknown today: courteous love;
fidelity to his master;
class superiority for the nobility;
serfs' quest or desire for freedom;
religious hierarchy;
omnipresence of Christian values in all spheres of existence;
fear of the evil one.
Because there is always a surprise, an astonishment to read the reactions
and the motivations of the protagonists.
I would even say that there is a form of suspense there.
Each question is extraordinary, and each answer both surprising and instructive.
Also, the big, intimate question is how guilty each character feels, and will they eventually gain access to Christian heaven?
Because the end of the medieval period presented is fascinating.
England is still Christian and Catholic.
Society is feudal and everyone is the servant or vassal of another.
The English are as usual at war with the French.
Moreover, the fragmentary account of the battle of Crécy two years earlier through the eyes of an English archer is strikingly true.
The reader follows the volleys of English arrows and observes the massacre of the poorly organized French knights, very beautiful in the sun, and very dead in the evening.
Because the noble Bernardine's quest for true love and freedom
makes her the most courageous character, the one who will change the most in the course of history.
From a young girl who was a passionate reader of Le Roman de la Rose, promised to a marriage arranged by her father with an old beard, she was to become a lucid and far too independent woman for her time.
Also, the swineherd who feels Hab one day and his sister Madlen the next is most modern, most revolutionary.
He jubilantly transgresses all the codes of the time.
Because the language is a real firework,
for which we must salute in passing the remarkable translation work of David Fauquemberg.
The author does not pastiche a medieval English language but invents his own, unpublished, twisting the syntax a little, using old words, sometimes mistreating Latin and quoting prayers.
And sometimes songs.
Just for the sake of words, this book is a treasure.
In the Ordinary Time of the Christian liturgy, extraordinary events are happening on this epic journey to Calais!
The essentials in 2 minutes
The plot.
The noble Bernardine flees her mansion to find a beautiful lover.
At the same time, Will Quate engages in a company of archers en route to Calais.
Further south in England, pestilence is said to be decimating populations.
Characters.
Sir Guy, father of Bernardine.
Bernardine, a young girl terrified by the marriage arranged by her noble father.
Will Quate, a plowman who will become an archer;
Laurence Haket, the noble and young lover.
Cécile de Goincourt, known as Cess, a Frenchwoman prisoner of a violent archer named Douceur.
Thomas, scholar.
Places.
South of England.
The time.
1348, during the Black Death.
The author.
James Meek was born in London in 1962 and grew up in Scotland.
An international journalist, he has also published several novels, translated in many countries.
This book was read with
delight, for the time, for the language, for the tortuous fate of the characters.
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Book sheet 20 Minutes
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England
middle ages
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