Poetry. Literary Nonfiction. Bilingual Edition. Translated from the French and edited and introduced by John Taylor. Pierre-Albert Jourdan wrote down observations, notes, aphorisms and diary entries with such dedication to clarity as to remove the distinction between prose and poetry. This is a book of original reflection, marvel at the beauties of nature and keen awareness of the fleeting moments of life.

"For Jourdan, writing was a tool for exploring what it means to have come into being, for determining how to live in the world every single day and thus how to die, and for intuiting possible spiritual truths in our midst. This task was always more important than seeing his work in print and establishing a name for himself. This radical genuineness now radiates from all the pages that, thankfully, are in print."—John Taylor, from his introduction

Author City: Caromb FRA

Pierre-Albert Jourdan (1924-1981) worked from 1947 to 1981 as the manager of an workers insurance firm, spending his non-working hours in pursuit of spiritual understanding and literary clarity. He was known as a poet only by a small group of better-known fellow poets. His focus was on nature, particularly his garden in the Vaucluse village of Caromb and the surrounding landscape, which included the snow-capped Mount Ventoux. In 1981 he received a diagnosis of lung cancer and decided to note down his thoughts as it progressed. Thus resulted L'approche /The Approach. In the first decade after his death, the prestigeous firm Mercure de France astonished the poetic world by publishing two collections of his work, each more than 500 pages. From these collections John Taylor introduces this singular and self-effacing poet to English-language readers.

Reviews and Other Links
Ron Slate @ On the Seawall