Saignon: Literary Tourism in the Luberon

Saignon is located in southern France, 60 km from Avignon and 90 km from Marseille. It is a perched village that attracts tourists like many others in the surrounding area. It is part of the Luberon National Park. Most of its visitors seek activities in historical and cultural tourism, green tourism and relaxation tourism. Today, it has fewer than 1,000 inhabitants and a dwindling local population. Since 2022, a group of residents, now known as the 'Les Cronopes Association', has been working to revive the memory and work of Julio Cortázar (1914-1984), the Argentine writer who lived in the village from 1964 to 1978. By organizing several annual events, Les Cronopes aims to help villagers and visitors rediscover the lives and works of the various Argentine artists who have spent time in Saignon.

Julio Cortázar translated and wrote short stories, novels, and poems. He was awarded the Prix Médicis Étranger in 1974. He lived in Paris from 1951, then settled in Saignon in 1964. He discovered the village by chance while walking around the region, looking for a quiet place to continue his work. During his stay, he was soon joined by several other Argentine artists: the couple Rosario Moreno (painter) and Aldo Franceschini and their son; Gladis and Saúl Yurkievich (poet and literary critic); Julio Silva (painter); Delia Rufino and Luis Tomasello (painter). This group enjoyed participating in village festivities and making friends with residents and artists such as Claude Tarnaud (poet) and Jean Thiercelin (poet and painter). Their way of life and humility won them over. They enriched the quiet, peaceful rhythm of the village. Saignon became a place of inspiration and creation for Julio Cortázar. He took pleasure in describing his daily life in several texts, but above all in his correspondence, where he insisted on the tranquillity and conviviality that reigned in his new home. He also began to create collaborative books, as he was so fond of placing the works of his admired friends at the centre of his texts. The collage book La vuelta al día en ochenta mundos/Le tour du jour en quatre-vingt mondes and Último round/Dernier round (Cortázar, 1967; 1969) bear witness to his daily life in the village, his new rhythm of work linked to nature and the friends who came to stay for creative sessions and celebrations.

The importance of the village in Julio Cortázar's life and work has been the subject of research based on his collage books and correspondence letters (Balaguer, 2011). In 2012, a series of interviews was conducted with people who knew the writer at the time. Thanks to a dissertation on the subject (Balaguer, 2013) and the interest of some villagers in Julio Cortázar, the idea of naming the local media library after him emerged. But it was not until ten years later, thanks to a group of residents and the support of the municipality, that the idea became a reality. The inauguration was accompanied by reading various testimonials from villagers and locals who came to recount their connection with the writer and the Argentine community. The following year, in 2023, a sign was affixed to the facade to inform the public of the presence of this writer and the community of artists in the village. A literary and musical walk was offered to a large audience.

The first events were a great success, so the local collective decided to set up an association to have more freedom and claim regional subsidies to continue promoting the lives and works of these artists who stayed in Saignon. The name chosen for the association is Les Cronopes, taken from a collection by Julio Cortázar entitled Historias de Cronopios y Famas/Cronopes et Fameux (Cortázar, 1962). The author coined these terms to designate the different types of people making up society, the Cronopes being artists and dreamers; this qualifier also refers today to people who are fond of the author and his work. 

In 2024, the association decided to place another Argentinean artist at the centre of the events, dedicating a musical show to the writer. This artist is Rosario Moreno (1914-2007), an artist who spent more than forty years in Saignon after the request of her friend, Julio Cortázar, to restore the house he had just bought. She never stopped creating (paintings, tapestries, sculptures) inspired by the village and surrounding landscapes, which reminded her of her native Mendoza. A 15-day exhibition was dedicated to her, with 900 visitors, which was an unexpected success for the association. Les Cronopes began working with the school village to pass on the memory of this artist to the younger generation. The children worked with their teachers on various works, and the exchanges were highly enriching.

For several decades now, many readers and admirers of Julio Cortázar, the majority of them Spanish-speaking, have travelled to Saignon to try to find his house and get to know the village he wrote about so enthusiastically, just as they like to visit his grave in the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris. The writer's presence in the village and that of the community of artists that surrounded him was an asset to the community and attracted other audiences. The mayor (Jean-Pierra Haucourt), aware of this advantage, has consistently supported the initiatives of the association.

Les Cronopes association aims to make the presence of these Argentinian artists in the village visible in the long term. It seeks to work with local players, extend its events to other villages in the area, and continue the work of remembrance by collecting testimonials to complete the biographical information on these personalities, who are remembered with interest and emotion by the villagers. As in the case of Julio Cortázar, panels will be installed to highlight the presence of other artists, and biographical accounts will be written by several hands to make the content visible and disseminate it to different audiences: village residents of all ages and tourists visiting the village.

How to cite this entry: Balaguer, L. (2024). Saignon; Literary tourism in the Luberon. In R. Baleiro, G. Capecchi & J. Arcos-Pumarola (Eds.). E-Dictionary of Literary Tourism. University for Foreigners of Perugia.