Pig Earth: Book One of the Into Their Labours TrilogyWith this haunting first volume in his Into Their Labours trilogy, John Berger begins his chronicle of the eclipse of peasant cultures in the twentieth century. Set in a small village in the French Alps, Pig Earth relates the stories of skeptical, hard-working men and fiercely independent women; of calves born and pigs slaughtered; of summer haymaking and long dark winters of rest; of the message of forgiveness from a dead father to his prodigal son; and of the marvelous Lucie Cabrol, exiled to a hut high in the mountains, an inexorable part of the lives of men who have known her. Above all, this masterpiece of sensuous description and profound moral resonance is an act of reckoning that conveys the precise wealth and weight of a world we are losing. |
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alpage André Masson arms asked blue blueberries bolet boots bottle bucket Cabrol Catherine centimetres chalet chickens chief inspector cider climbed Cocadrille conservatism cow's cows cumin dark dead door dress drink earth Edmond Edouard Emile everything eyes face farm father feet fingers flowers forest Gare de Lyon glass gnôle goat going grass hands haversack head heard Henri horse Jean Jean-François Jésus John Berger Jorat killed kilometres kilos kitchen knew ladder laughing legs lift litres lived looked Lucie maquisards Marcel Marius marry Mathieu Mélanie metres milk morning Moselle mother mountain mouth nails never Nicolas night path peasant Pépé picked pulled purlins roof round Rousa sacks Saint Lucie shit shoulders shouted side slope snow spoke stable stone sabot stood stopped stove survival Tchee told took tractor turned village waiting walked wall whilst woman wood wooden