If the village of Ponteils-et-Brésis was told to me…

Agathe Baudouin, l’auteure, et Bruno Doan, l’éditeur et graphiste de l'ouvrage. Midi Libre – STEPHANE BARBIER

Published by Editions de l’atelier Baie, “ A corner of land in the Cévennes ” recounts, from the pen of Agathe Beaudouin in a travel diary, the daily life of this village in the upper Cèze valley.

" Where could the source be hiding ? " Page 67, asks journalist Agathe Beaudouin, accompanied by Ponteillais in search of a resurgence in the Bois de Bertrand sector. A scene sketched in April 2023 summarizing the quest of the author and publisher Bruno Doan. Two Nîmes approaching this singular village at the invitation of the mayor, Pierre de la Rue du Can, wishing to offer his citizens a snapshot of this corner of the Cévennes.

Nothing very complicated in appearance… Except that there are no more shops here and the village, the result of a merger in 1812, is made up of around forty hamlets scattered in the forest. Some, invisible to the eye, it is with this giant that is Mount Lozère that a first link is built by which the duo will weave the history of the women and men of this country. Whether they are native or not, because this granite giant doesn't care…

This Mount Lozère. A beacon that guides the inhabitants, an almost protector to whom they turn

" With Jean-Pierre Boutonnet, it took us a day and a half to recognize all the hamlets, followed by a 12 km hike the next day…, recalls Agathe Beaudouin. But, it is at the end of the first six months of meetings that I hold the common thread through this Mount Lozère. A beacon that guides the inhabitants, an almost protector to whom they turn. "

Continuing the work of collecting memories undertaken shortly before by the ethnologist Fanny Castaing, a hundred encounters will then bring out the links of these Cévenols to this land.< br />Beautiful, but fearless… The work, punctuated by meticulous maps detailing this shale country, embellished with archive images illuminating its typicality, supported by a gallery of portraits of the inhabitants encountered, the interstices with graphics by Bruno Doan structure the seven chapters presented by the author.

Delivering the face of a Ponteils-et-Brésis in struggle and in connection with an omnipresent nature, its dangers, fire, as well as its rarity, water. From the upper Cévenols prey to the agonies of isolation, ingenious through this art of doing everything yourself in a country where the question of mobility is essential like the future of the hospital, always questioned. Valats in which solidarity is woven out of a taste for others, while some prefer the silence of greenhouses. To each their own Cévennes. The strength of this work which tells stories without judging.

“Ponteils-et-Brésis, a corner in the Cévennes, Travel diary” published by l’atelier Baie, (176 pages/20 €) will be offered on Friday April 19, at 6 p.m., to families in the village. I subscribe to read more