A Mayle moment in Provence
The man who sparked the 'south of France' obsession keeps an easy pace – strolling in Gucci loafers (no socks) and writing 500 words a day
from the May 15, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
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I had stumbled into this interview through serendipity. Reporting about the game of pétanque and its place in the life and lore of Provence, I told a source how delightfully Mayle had captured the game in his last novel, "A Good Year," turned into a movie starring Russell Crowe.
"Would you like to interview him?" my source asked.
Indeed.
I arrived with the requisite questions but also an interest in meeting a writer who allows me to laugh aloud at his portrayal of the region's exaggerated and eccentric characters.
It's hard to understand the anger some still hold in these parts toward Mayle; he's been blamed for drawing tourist throngs here as thick as the clouds of the 20-year locusts in America's heartland.
But it doesn't take looking at the realtor's listings in Lourmarin to see that this region also has prospered, in no small part because of Mayle's writing. (In 2002, Mayle was awarded France's Legion d'Honneur for, he says, "services to Francophonie.")
Today Mayle is happy to talk about matters other than the crowds and controversies that his book stirred up.
May I use a tape recorder, I ask? He says he prefers it. Too many journalists, he explains, are so intent on their meal that they use neither tape recorder nor notepad, producing articles in which neither questions nor answers bear much resemblance to what transpired. And so we're off.
My questions focus on pétanque and Mayle's writing process (I teach journalism). His answers often drift to what seem to be his favorite topics: food, wine, and all things Provençal. Being British by birth and humor, he punctuates his answers with understated and sometimes self-deprecating jabs.
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