Of Fish and Game and Butterflies

by Pierre Bergounioux

These are the first translations of Pierre Bergounioux in English.

Pierre Bergounioux, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest and most original contemporary French writers, was born in 1949 in Brive-la-Gaillarde, in the barren, backward French region of Corrèze. The landscape and society of his badlands didn’t offer his young eyes the sources of wonderment he was craving, so he pursued them in their speechless dwellers. The three novellas brought together in this volume describe this lifelong compulsion.

Genres: Fiction

120 pages, Paperback

Published March 16, 2022

About the author

Pierre Bergounioux est un auteur et sculpteur français.
Il a reçu les prix suivants:
1986: prix Alain-Fournier
1995: prix France Culture pour Miette
2002: grand prix de littérature de la Société des gens de lettres pour l’ensemble de l’œuvre
2002: prix Virgile
2009: prix Roger Caillois pour l'ensemble de son œuvre

Pierre Bergounioux is a French writer and sculptor.
He has received following awards:
1986: prix Alain-Fournier
1995: prix France Culture for Miette
2002: grand prix de littérature de la Société des gens de lettres for his entire work
2002: prix Virgile
2009: prix Roger Caillois for his entire work

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A novel broken down into three parts that follows the childhood of a young boy as he engages in three distinct outdoor activities: Fishing, hunting, butterfly catching. Small scale adventures transpire within each section as the narrator waxes poetically on said activity and how it ties man to nature and man's relationship with nature both past and present. It's very nicely written, sometimes a bit overwritten but that is okay, the writing for the vast majority of the time I find very evocative despite the simple nature of the novel. Almost an inverse of the Old Man and the Sea, in that novel, you follow Santiago sail out in the middle of the ocean to track down a massive fish, in this one you read about a young boy wade into knee deep water to catch a trout, despite being at the opposite ends of the scale, this novel is written in an almost biblical style as it directly ties a bunch of references to a simple activity of fly fishing, it's interesting. The Young Boy and the River in concept I suppose. The following parts continue this notion but related to different activities, thus different comparisons. The book is a bit tricky to find, but it's worth checking out if you can get a cheap copy, overall, it's a very nice introspective read with beautiful writing