General & Miscellaneous French History, France - Travel Essays & Descriptions

Provence A-Z

Name: Provence A-Z
Author: Peter Mayle
ISBN: 9780786294039

by Peter Mayle

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Overview

An indispensable, richly informative, and always entertaining sourcebook on Provence by the writer who has made the region his own.

Though organized from A to Z, this is hardly a conventional work of reference. It is rather a selection of those aspects of Provence that Peter Mayle in almost twenty years there has found to be the most interesting, curious, delicious, or down-right fun.

In more than 170 entries he writes about subjects as wide-ranging as architecture and zingue-zingue-zoun (in the local patois, a word meant to describe the sound of a violin), as diverse as expatriates, Aix-en-Provence, the Provençal character, legends, lavender, linguistic oddities, the museum of the French Foreign Legion, the museum of the corkscrew, the origins of “La Marseillaise,” and a bawdy folklore character named Fanny.

And, of course, he writes about food and drink: vin rosé, truffles, olives, melons, bouillabaisse, the cheese that killed a Roman emperor, even a cure for indigestion. The wonderful accompanying artwork includes curiosities Mayle has gathered over the years—matchbooks, drawings, century-old ads, photos, tourist brochures, maps.
Provence A-Z is a delight for Peter Mayle’s ever-growing audience and the perfect complement to any guidebook on Provence, or, for that matter, France.

About the Author, Peter Mayle

Peter Mayle eats, drinks, writes, and lives in Provence.

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Editorials

From Barnes & Noble

For most readers, Provence wasn't on mental maps until Peter Mayle's 1989 bestseller, A Year in Provence. This zestful alphabetical reference, now in paperback, will help keep it there for another decade or two. Provence A-Z is no dull encyclopedia: Its 170-plus entries cover a whole span of Provençal history, culture, customs, and, of course, cuisine. An elegant fit for all lovers of France.

Publishers Weekly

The author of several books set in Provence, including the now classic travel tome A Year in Provence and a more recent novel, A Good Year, Mayle has once again trapped the sunshine, the wind and the very lavender-laden air of the southeastern French countryside in his prose. The reference-desk title is appropriate if the desk in reference is that of a librarian at your favorite getaway inn in Aix or Marseille. This anecdotal encyclopedia may have been written expressly for discovery on the shelf of a rented mas, "a collection of agricultural buildings joined together," and enjoyed over an afternoon repast of Banon, "armed with a fresh baguette and a bottle of local wine." Mayle is the self-appointed pied piper of Provence for Anglophone Francophiles everywhere, and these entries, from "Accent" to "Zingue-Zingue-Zoun," display the same conversational style his fans have come to expect. He includes information about lesser-known sights like the museum of the Foreign Legion and local food like bouillabaisse, but the charm of the book is in unexpected factual gems like "the male goat can copulate up to forty times a day" found in an otherwise straightforward entry about ch vre. Mayle writes beautifully of the seasons Automne, t , Hiver and Printemps which he shares as his own personal Provence with the earnestly planning tourist and the dreamy armchair traveler alike. (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

This book is a companion volume to Mayle's acclaimed accounts of living in Provence, A Year in Provence, Toujours Provence, and Encore Provence, proving that he has still not exhausted his fund of information on the subject. The 200 entries in this A-Z listing average a page and a half in length and are frequently accompanied by illustrations. This compilation is based on "personal interests, personal discoveries, personal foibles," which may explain why "Daube la Proven al," a local beef dish, is included but writer Alphonse Daudet is not. The entries are listed in their original French; for instance, "Huile d'olive" is the title of the essay on olive oil. Anecdotes, recipes, sundry facts, and quirky bits of Proven al ritual are relayed with wit and humor. Mayle is at his best when writing about food, cheeses, and wines. The essay on "Fruit Confit" combines a little history, a recipe, and the proper way to eat this delicacy. An optional purchase, but, given Mayle's legion of fans, and the continued popularity of Provence, expect demand. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 7/06.] Ravi Shenoy, Naperville P.L., IL Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.