The Mays of Ventadorn: Tales from Southwest France

The Pulitzer Prize-winning W.S. Merwin, one of the great contemporary English-language poets, turns to prose here in a brilliantly evocative re-creation of a distant past—as well as an exquisite rendering of his own romance with an abandoned farmhouse in the magical countryside of Southwest France. Merwin traces the troubadour tradition to the 12th century and the great Bernart de Ventadorn, whose pastoral songs and narrative poems have survived for 900 years. Merwin first encountered the songs and poems of Bernart de Ventadorn as a young translator of the archaic language known as Old Occitan. Modern forms of Occitan are still spoken in southern France and Monaco, although all of its dialects are often referred to as Provençal.

As he reveals the lyrical pleasures in Southwest France's medieval courts, Merwin acquaints the reader with the present-day ruins of the storied chateau of Ventadorn and his own neighboring farmhouse. This beautiful narrative shows how the enchantments that distinguish the farmhouse, the local patois, and the rural traditions of this magical countryside, all stem from the troubadours' rich culture.

• 208 pages
• 5 1/4'' x 8 1/8''
• Hardcover
• © 2003

"[A] spare and profoundly observant tale."—Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"One of the finest senior U.S. poets stunningly evokes in prose the fabled romance and dark beauty of southwestern France. Seemingly channeling the troubadour spirit of the region, Merwin paints broad, but strikingly detailed, landscapes with his words, using language itself as a main character. He intermingles his personal experiences in the region with the songs of twelfth-century troubadours, illustrating superbly the flexibility of time in the historical cocoon of this ancient and endlessly resurrected locale. Often the prose sounds like poetry, and few other travel writings could aspire to the miraculously transporting quality of these crystalline sentences. The reader feels the restorative effects of this region and its poetry on Merwin, and cannot help but be touched. Like the songs of his troubadours, this little book soothes the soul while keeping the senses wide awake."—Booklist