the father to the son...
By now, in English-speaking countries, the bookshops are choc-a-bloc with books specially published for the Christmas gift market. One of these is undoubtedly Walker Lamond’s hugely successfully 1.001 Rules for My Unborn son. These type of books are becoming easier and easier to find on the shelves of bookshops. The revelation, or at least one of the biggest surprises, of 2009 is Canadian cinema critic David Gilmore’s book Cineclub. Gilmore wrote the book when his 16-year-old, 1 metre 96 centimetre tall son’s studies really started to suffer. The book tells how they faced up to those difficult moments in his son’s life. Every week, they would choose a film and watch it together. Once the film had finished, they would debate about what they had seen, just as members of any cinema club do anywhere. All of this is captured in the book Cineclub. When I came across the connection between these two books, I reencountered another more interesting and joyful discovery. I remembered that beautiful little book with the red cover that I stumbled across one day in the public library in Pamplona while I was doing research for a thesis on haystacks. It used the same formula as the other two, but with a special characteristic of its own. Before Captain Duvoisin, born in Ainhoa, retired to become a writer, he had been a border guard and when he finally published the book in 1858, he published it in Basque: Laborantzarako liburua edo bi aita semeren solasak laborantzaren gainean (a book on farming, a father and son speaking about farming).
The wonderfully simply titled book was printed up at the Andre Lamaigne printers on Pont-Mayu Street in Bayonne. The book features a father teaching his son the ins and outs of how to work a farm. This long conversation recorded in chapters between father and son covers many aspects of living on a farm and the work it entails. In simple yet rich language, the father explains the basic skills and all the little tricks needed on a farm. Captain Duvoisin wrote a truly beautiful book. As well as writing a gem of he book, he also used the formula of a son talking to a father that has become so popular nowadays to build the narrative on. We could say that Captain Duvoisin was one of the forbearers of the self-help book.
Captain Duvoisin was a collaborator of Luis-luziano Bonaparte. The admiration and respect he felt for him are clearly expressed in the introduction to the book:
To His Highness,
Our Lord and Prince Luis-luziano Bonaparte
The love, hearts and desire of the Basques,
And from among them all the humble
Yet eternally grateful hand of your
Captain Duvoisin.
The wonderfully simply titled book was printed up at the Andre Lamaigne printers on Pont-Mayu Street in Bayonne. The book features a father teaching his son the ins and outs of how to work a farm. This long conversation recorded in chapters between father and son covers many aspects of living on a farm and the work it entails. In simple yet rich language, the father explains the basic skills and all the little tricks needed on a farm. Captain Duvoisin wrote a truly beautiful book. As well as writing a gem of he book, he also used the formula of a son talking to a father that has become so popular nowadays to build the narrative on. We could say that Captain Duvoisin was one of the forbearers of the self-help book.
Captain Duvoisin was a collaborator of Luis-luziano Bonaparte. The admiration and respect he felt for him are clearly expressed in the introduction to the book:
To His Highness,
Our Lord and Prince Luis-luziano Bonaparte
The love, hearts and desire of the Basques,
And from among them all the humble
Yet eternally grateful hand of your
Captain Duvoisin.
