Note from the Blogger

These mini-reviews are intended to be short recommendations, not full blown literary reviews. Please feel free to add your own comments. -- Tim Drake

Friday, October 30, 2020

The Man Who Planted Trees (1954) By Jean Giono

 

A couple of months ago I blogged about the descriptive mastery of French author Jean Giono in his novel The Horseman on the Roof. Problem was the topic of that book was a cholera pandemic. I believe I used the word “ghastly.” I wondered then about applying his descriptive powers to other, more pleasant topics. With that in mind, I picked up a short story of his that is right out of the naturalist genre: The Man Who Planted Trees.

The story is similar to the American folklore classic Johnny Appleseed. Though, instead of planting fruit trees for a growing nation, Giono’s story is about replanting oak forests in the Provence region of SE France in the foothills of the Alps Mountains. The protagonist is a shepherd who after the death of his wife takes on as a personal mission the task of planting a hundred acorns each day in areas abandoned by early settlers who had harvested and destroyed the natural environment which enticed them to settle there in the first place. This book answers my question about utilizing Giono’s writing skills on a more pleasant topic.  He was the perfect writer for The Man Who Planted Trees.

Animated Film Adaptation

In 1988 an animated film adaptation of the book was released. The 30-minute film won the Academy Award for Best Short Story.

Recommendation:  Yes, both book and film are booster shots for humanity, there is yet hope for planet Earth. 


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