More on Le Lubéron

     Americans are properly accused of not knowing geography, but WAISers will certainly be informed about Le Lubéron. Martin Storey explains why he is there. He writes:
     "I'm spending a lazy end-of-millennium with my parents and one of my sisters by the fireplace. After retiring from NASA, my father returned to France and my mother picked the Lubéron, a small region about half way between Avignon and Marseille, named after a little chain of mountain just north and parallel to Cézanne's Mont Sainte Victoire which I can see through the window as I type. The main villages of the Lubéron are Pertuis on the Southern side, and Apt on the Northern side. The Lubéron became popular with politicians when it became known that Mitterrand liked the place, and many career-minded ministers promptly bought a house there, giving Mitterrand's court the nickname "la gauche-Lubéron". British author Peter Mayle lives just a few miles away, in Lourmarin. All these people have "broken the markets" and driven prices of all goods up, which makes the life of the indigenous French and the many harkis and other North-African people who settled here more difficult. It is still a beautiful region. An otherwise mediocre French film based on Jean Giono's book, "Le Hussard sur le toit" was filmed a few years ago in this village, and "Manon des Sources" was filmed in nearby Vaugines.


     My comment: François Mitterrand was born in 1916 in Jarnac, in southwestern France, and he is buried there. That too is an attractive region; the locals must have been annoyed that he preferred Le Lubéron. Perhaps he left his waspish wife in Jarnac and kept his mistress at a safe distance away.
     The harkis are Algerians who fought for France in the Algerian war for independence. They fled to France to a mixed reception. I suppose some chose to settle in Lubéron when prices there were low.

Ronald Hilton - 12/31/99