Pig Earth
- 224 pages
- 8 hours of reading
Set in a small village in the French Alps, this book relates the stories of sceptical, hard-working men and fiercely independent women.
Into Their Labours Series
This trilogy chronicles the European peasant's journey from the mountains to the metropolis, charting the transformations of their lives and culture amidst modernization. Comprising three distinct novels, it delves into the profound social and economic shifts experienced by rural communities. The narrative explores themes of identity, displacement, and the search for belonging in a rapidly changing world. It offers a poignant literary exploration of tradition lost and adaptation gained.
Recommended Reading Order
- 1
- 2
Once in Europa
- 192 pages
- 7 hours of reading
Once in Europa was first published by John Berger in 1987. Bloomsbury's reissue of this moving love story has been given a new and poignant twist with the addition of award-winning photographer Patricia Macdonald's remarkable colour images which punctuate Berger's lyrical tale of stoical romance in the midst of agrarian collapse and the depredations of heavy industry in Central Europe in the 1950s. Odile lives with her ageing father as he fights to retain his smallholding amidst the encroachment of the local steel works. She recounts that "the first sounds I remember are the factory siren and the noise of the river", and her idyllic childhood is increasingly eroded and replaced by the environmental destruction which the factory visits upon both its surroundings and those who work there: "the furnaces throbbed, the river flowed, the smoke, sometimes white, sometimes grey, sometimes yellow, thrust upwards into the sky, men worked night and day for generations, sweating, retching, pissing, coughing". Odile's promising school career is cut short as she falls in love with the communist steelworker Stepan. His sudden death at the factory, and the company's indifference to the pregnant Odile leave her destitute, ultimately finding solace in another victim of the factory's malign practices, the crippled Michel. The tragic impact of industrialisation upon a rural community is wonderfully judged by Berger, and there are passages of exquisite lyricism and stoicism as Odile attempts to eke out an existence for herself and her children. Macdonald's photographs beautifully complement the tone and atmosphere of Berger's text, especially her astonishing aerial photographs of urban and rural wildernesses. This is a sober snapshot of late 20th-century Europa. -- Jerry Brotton
- 3
Lilac and Flag
- 192 pages
- 7 hours of reading
In the mythic city of Troy, amidst the shanty-towns, factories, opulent hotels, fading heritages and steadfast dreams, the children and grandchildren of rural peasants pursue meagre livings as best they can. And two young lovers embark upon a passionate journey of love and survival.
Related books
Vereint sind diese Romane das große Epos der rauhen savoyardischen Landschaft und seiner Menschen: John Bergers Bücher Sau-Erde, Spiel mir ein Lied und Flieder und Flagge. In ihnen beweist er seine große Erzählkunst und unnachahmliche Beobachtungsgabe.
Trilogía de sus fatigas
- 672 pages
- 24 hours of reading
En 1974, John Berger ponía los cimientos del que sería uno de los logros más admirados y aclamados de su narrativa: la trilogía De sus fatigas, en la que se relata el viaje de los campesinos europeos desde las montañas a la metrópolis, donde su modo de vida agoniza, herido de muerte. Puerca tierra presenta al lector los obstinados del éxodo rural, enfrentados día tras día al lugar indómito del que no quisieron o no lograron huir, mientras que Una vez en Europa narra el cadencioso goteo de todos los que poco a poco, sin heroicidad ni historia, abandonaron su pasado para adentrarse en la nueva civilización que se abría a lo lejos. Finalmente, Lila y Flag acompaña a los rezagados, a los que llegaron demasiado tarde a un nuevo mundo que había empezado su viaje sin ellos.