ABSTRACT
Among the French novelists born just after the Second World War, three of the most profound are intimately associated with the Limousin region. Is this a mere coincidence? Pierre Bergounioux (born in Brive-la-Gaillarde in 1949), Pierre Michon (born in the village of Cards, near Châtelus-le-Marcheix, in 1945), and Richard Millet (born in Viam in 1953) have all written powerful novels commemorating this relatively poor, remote, and—from the contemporary urbanite’s viewpoint—socially backwards area. Known for its rolling spruce-covered hills and ancestral lifestyles, the Limousin has become the focal point of writing as moving and penetrating as it is stylistically sophisticated.
