Jean Giono
Author of The Man who Planted Trees – France
Jean Giono (1895-1970) was one of France’s greatest writers. His published works include over 30 novels, including our favorite, The Man Who Planted Trees: a timeless eco-fable about what one person can do to restore the earth. At just under 4,000 words, it tells the story of a shepherd’s solitary efforts to reforest a desolate region in the foothills of the Alps during the first half of the 20th century. Like Giono’s own life, the shepherd’s story spans two world wars and the bloodiest half-century in human history.
The hero of the story, Elzéard Bouffier, spent his life planting one hundred acorns a day in a desolate, barren section of Provence in the south of France. The result was a total transformation of the landscape-from one devoid of life, with miserable, contentious inhabitants, to one filled with the scent of flowers, the songs of birds, and fresh, flowing water. It offers a vision of hopefulness that our suffering planet badly needs today, a prescient parable for coming to grips with climate change. This book offers us not only a vision of what is—the enduring beauty of meadows and mountain streams and undulating forests stretching out as far as the eye can see. It also gives us a vision of what is yet possible when we set our minds and wills to the restoration of the Earth, our common home, a task yet “worthy of God.”
More than 60 years after its publication, “The Man Who Planted Trees” can remind us of the hidden power of seed-planting, of patient cultivation when all around us seems barren. Jean Giono’s simple tale can awaken the artist, the poet, the storyteller and perhaps even the farmer in each of us. The Earth is our common home, it’s suffering our common cause. Let us begin planting our hundred acorns with the greatest care.
Within a few years the tale was translated into at least a dozen languages, and it has long since inspired reforestation efforts worldwide.
“In order for the character of a human being to reveal truly exceptional qualities, we must have the good fortune to observe its action over a long period of years. If this action is devoid of all selfishness, if the idea that directs it is one of unqualified generosity, if it is absolutely certain that it has not sought recompense anywhere, and if moreover it has left visible marks on the world, then we are unquestionably dealing with an unforgettable character.”
Video: The Man who Planted Trees
Books: The Man Who Planted Trees; Giono also wrote a multitude of short stories, essays, poetry, and both theater and film scripts.
