The Man Who Planted Trees
March 24, 2010 7:49 AM Subscribe
The Man Who Planted Trees (part 2, part 3) is an Academy Award winning 1987 Canadian short animated film directed by Frédéric Back, based on the 1953 story by French author Jean Giono. See also/Previously.
Seeing this animation in 1989 was my introduction to Giono. I loved it then, and I got the DVD a couple of years ago. I have always felt that it was a great animation in its own right, and that it does a great job of capturing the story.
I've loved Giono's novels, there is something so sensuous and immediate about them. I return to Harvest fairly often, and I've always been sad that more of his prodigious output has not been translated into English.
I was a bit sad to learn he had collaborated during WWII, at least with Vichy, and likely with the Nazis. You can sort of understand why he would have been attractive from his message or terroir-bound life. The wikipedia page looks like it once mentioned this, but that it was excised. The reference to a Telos article is still there.
posted by OmieWise at 8:41 AM on March 24, 2010
I've loved Giono's novels, there is something so sensuous and immediate about them. I return to Harvest fairly often, and I've always been sad that more of his prodigious output has not been translated into English.
I was a bit sad to learn he had collaborated during WWII, at least with Vichy, and likely with the Nazis. You can sort of understand why he would have been attractive from his message or terroir-bound life. The wikipedia page looks like it once mentioned this, but that it was excised. The reference to a Telos article is still there.
posted by OmieWise at 8:41 AM on March 24, 2010
Greatest animated story ever. I bawl like a baby every time I watch it. So beautiful.
posted by GuyZero at 10:20 AM on March 24, 2010
posted by GuyZero at 10:20 AM on March 24, 2010
can't do the youtube thing from work, but i'm sincerely hoping this is the same version i saw at an animation fest many years ago. it's the one that struck me the most, and i occasionally think about how beautiful & moving that story was. thanks for the link!
posted by msconduct at 11:22 AM on March 24, 2010
posted by msconduct at 11:22 AM on March 24, 2010
For the original French text, side by side with English translation, look here: The Man Who Planted Trees
posted by Ted Walther at 4:04 PM on March 24, 2010
posted by Ted Walther at 4:04 PM on March 24, 2010
I've always been sad that more of his prodigious output has not been translated into English.
A fair amount has been translated, it's just long out of print and off the main radar screen, but probably still accessible via used books.
The wikipedia page looks like it once mentioned this, but that it was excised.
Strange. Hard to tell why it was deleted but it's the central axis of his life, there is pre and post Collaborator and he was very different between, in person and work.
posted by stbalbach at 5:18 PM on March 24, 2010
A fair amount has been translated, it's just long out of print and off the main radar screen, but probably still accessible via used books.
The wikipedia page looks like it once mentioned this, but that it was excised.
Strange. Hard to tell why it was deleted but it's the central axis of his life, there is pre and post Collaborator and he was very different between, in person and work.
posted by stbalbach at 5:18 PM on March 24, 2010
A fair amount has been translated
I'm curious about this because I've long stopped looking for other things translated into English by Giono. What I know of that's been translated into English: the very nice editions from North Point Press from the 80s: Blue Boy, Harvest, Horseman on the Roof, Song of the World, maybe one or two I'm forgetting at the moment, The Man Who Planted Trees, a more recent short story collection, a late 90s reprint of Harvest published as Second Harvest, and I have one old copy (published by Peter Owen?) called Two Riders on a Storm (I think, I don't have it with me).
Do you know of more things in English, because I will look for them if you know of any. I spent years ckecking under Giono first whenever I went into a used bookstore, but eventually kind of gave up because I thought I had everything.
posted by OmieWise at 3:32 AM on March 25, 2010
I'm curious about this because I've long stopped looking for other things translated into English by Giono. What I know of that's been translated into English: the very nice editions from North Point Press from the 80s: Blue Boy, Harvest, Horseman on the Roof, Song of the World, maybe one or two I'm forgetting at the moment, The Man Who Planted Trees, a more recent short story collection, a late 90s reprint of Harvest published as Second Harvest, and I have one old copy (published by Peter Owen?) called Two Riders on a Storm (I think, I don't have it with me).
Do you know of more things in English, because I will look for them if you know of any. I spent years ckecking under Giono first whenever I went into a used bookstore, but eventually kind of gave up because I thought I had everything.
posted by OmieWise at 3:32 AM on March 25, 2010
Beyond the six you mentioned, I know of these five for certain:
Pan: Hill of Destiny (Fr: Coline; tr. 1929)
Lovers are Never Losers (Fr: Un de Baumugnes; tr. 1931)
The Joy of Man's Desiring (Fr: Que ma joie demeure; tr. 1940)
The Straw Man (Fr: Le Bonheur fou; tr. 1959)
The Dominici Affair (Fr: Notes sur l'affaire Dominici; tr. 1956)
There are additional English titles here, but hard to tell what they are exactly.
posted by stbalbach at 10:43 AM on March 25, 2010
Pan: Hill of Destiny (Fr: Coline; tr. 1929)
Lovers are Never Losers (Fr: Un de Baumugnes; tr. 1931)
The Joy of Man's Desiring (Fr: Que ma joie demeure; tr. 1940)
The Straw Man (Fr: Le Bonheur fou; tr. 1959)
The Dominici Affair (Fr: Notes sur l'affaire Dominici; tr. 1956)
There are additional English titles here, but hard to tell what they are exactly.
posted by stbalbach at 10:43 AM on March 25, 2010
OmieWise, I found some more - rather than updating here I'm just updating his bibliography on Wikipedia (link in FPP). There are a couple English titles that I can't match up with the original French in the list on Wikipedia. Any ideas?
The Serpent of Stars
An Italian Journey
posted by stbalbach at 11:16 AM on March 25, 2010
The Serpent of Stars
An Italian Journey
posted by stbalbach at 11:16 AM on March 25, 2010
Yes, I had actually forgotten a couple of these. I've read Serpent of Stars and I had forgotten that, too, and I own Italian Journey.
I may spend some time on the Giono Wikipedia page. It seems woefully incomplete.
posted by OmieWise at 1:02 PM on March 27, 2010
I may spend some time on the Giono Wikipedia page. It seems woefully incomplete.
posted by OmieWise at 1:02 PM on March 27, 2010
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posted by KingEdRa at 8:00 AM on March 24, 2010