When I went to a nearby books & café, and after finished with what I had to do there and was just about to rush back home, there was a book that seemed to twinkle noticeably as if speaking to me.
A Japanese translated book of “Plaisir des Meteores,ou,Le Livre des Douze Mois” written by Marie Gevers, translated by Kan MIYABAYASHI, published by Kawade Shobo Shinsha.
It may be because of the strip of paper around the book carrying a blurb written by a writer Kao NASHIKI.
These days, I had been purchasing books just through online, so I was excited with start reading the book that I encountered unexpectedly.
Marie Gevers was born in 1883 and represents a writer of Belgian French literature.
“Plaisir des Meteores,ou,Le Livre des Douze Mois” writes about seasonal beauty of Flemish region where she spent most her life, as well as her experience in nature that can be harsh sometimes, and lives of villagers that had been handed down from generation to generation.
Occasionally, I would be charmed by my daughter’s words which come out of her mouth while she floats between fantasy and real world.
There is no end to a little girl’s purity, acuteness and roughness too, but very poetic and beautiful…
I thought as if it overlapped in some way with this book in which Marie Gevers, who was like a spirit of the earth, related Flanders.
Although “Plaisir des Meteores,ou,Le Livre des Douze Mois” had been one of the most popular works and long-sellers of Marie Gevers since the first edition was published in Belgium in 1938, there had not been any Japanese translation.
I became to know about the story of the publication in the postface of the book which was written by Kan MIYABAYASHI who translated and introduced the book.
The illustrations of plants inserted within the text were drawn by a garden designer Yayoi Ono and they drew close to the world of Marie Gevers. The book gave me a joy to pick up and read even more.
Marie Gevers had revised many times and spent more than 20 years to complete the “Plaisir des Meteores,ou,Le Livre des Douze Mois”.
She concluded with her words “I will be keep revising this book for the rest of my life”
I feel like I understand what she meant. The season goes around but never the same is repeated.
December- we had snow at the foot of Yatsugatake here.
The lifestyle is limited in the shade of cold where icy north wind hits the cheeks that make them feel painful.
It is a season that requires both being prepared and optimistic.
But as a consequence, there are things that you can do, the scenery you can see, colours and textiles are born and words are created.
I hope to enjoy right this only moment.
With trust to the words of Marie Gevers in the text “spring is fair”.