Pierre Fourny and La poésie à 2 mi-mots, Fère-en-Tardenois (02), Aisne (02)

At the gates on the mairie is what appears to be a letter box, although beneath it is a kind of explanatory plaque. Although the plaque confuses more than it explains, which is perhaps the intention. But the group ALIS (Association Lieux Images et Sons) in Fère-en-Tardenois, founded in 1982 by Pierre Fourny (unmentioned on the plaque) gave the 'letter box' to the town on 17 November 2001: Fère-en-Tardenois becomes the world capital of La poésie à 2 mi-mots. But what exactly does the expression mean?

Pierre Fourny invented La poésie à 2 mi-mots at the beginning of this century, and it has a great resemblance to an original Oulipian constraint. In fact the 'letter box' itself is an example of this poetry, which in the words of Fourny 'est un procédé d'une simplicité désarmante : il consiste simplement à couper les mots d'un trait horizontal. Chacune des deux moitiés de mots obtenues est contenue dans un autre mot, ou plusieurs autres mots': in other words it is an amazingly simple procedure in which words are cut across by a horizontal line. The two halves of the words contain another word or other words. In the example here, the word ECRITES appropriately produces LETTRES, or vice versa. It does of course depend on where you make the cut.

Halle aux Grains, Fère-en-Tardenois (02), Aisne (02)

An inside shot of the seventeenth century covered grain market in Fère-en-Tardenois, built by Madeleine de Savoie, the wife of Anne de Montmorency. In 1917 and 1918 it served as an hôpital militaire.

Château ruins, Fère-en-Tardenois (02), Aisne (02)

I don't normally deal much with castles, particularly as there are so many in France, but this one is rather special. The château ruins a few kilometres from Fère-en-Tardenois are of an old fort built in the thirteenth century. The ruins stand on a mainly artifical mound, and the seven-towered building took over fifty years to construct. But perhaps the most notable thing about this structure in general is the sixty-metre fortified Renaissance bridge leading to the entrance to the château and its septagonal courtyard (to which at the time of writing there is no access).

The view along the bridge looking towards the château courtyard.

Boîte à lire, Fère-en-Tardenois (02), Aisne (02)

This small boîte à lire is in front of the mairie in Fère-en-Tardenois. As for Fère-en-Tardenois being the Capitale mondiale de la poésie à 2 mi-mots, I'll look into that tomorrow.

Sheela Na Gig (sculpture of weird female genitalia), Bruyères-et-Montbérault (02), Aisne (02)

'So we're going to see a cunt on a church', my partner Penny remarked rather than questioned as I put my foot down out of Épernay towards Reims and beyond. Yes, indeed we were, and I'd for a few years had the intention of viewing this Sheela (exaggerated cunt and also in this particular example exaggerated (open rather than puckered) arsehole) on the exterior of L'Église Notre-Dame in Bruyères-et-Montbérault. Most Sheela Na Gigs are in Ireland (101) and the UK (45), but this is a splendid French version. I include the male sculpture on Bourges cathedral just for amusement.

Jean-Baptiste Godin and Utopia, Guise, Aisne (02)

Utopian socialist, industrialist and writer Jean-Baptiste André Godin was born in Esquéhéries in Aisne in 1817 to a locksmith father. In 1840, now a locksmith himself, Godin took out a patent on cast iron stoves. Two years later he discovered the socialist ideas of Charles Fourier. He moved his business in domestic appliances to Guise in 1846 and, between 1859-1884, he constructed his Familistère there.

At La Familistère the workers joined in the management and decision-making process, becoming owners of the factory and the central dwelling: Le Pavillon, or Palais social. Godin was driven by the ideas of Fourier mainly, and also those of Saint-Simon, Étienne Cabet and Robert Owen. La Familistère housed 2000 people, and for thirty years, with his partner and later wife Marie Moret, dedicated himself to the community in Guise.

Godin died in 1888, although the cooperative continued until 1968, when La Familistère became a capitalist concern. The buildings were declared historical monuments in 1991 and between 2006 and 2014 they were opened as a museum.

An external view of Le Pavillon Central, or Palais central.

And here, an internal view of the superb Pavillon Central. Formerly the rooms were all apartments, although now many are display rooms giving information on the apartments, the history of La Familistère, different utopias, Godin stoves, etc.

A Cuisiniére No. 1080 'Pot-au-Fer', 1930

Cuisiniére No. 956, 1914.

There are several reconstructions of the apartments, this representing the 1950s.

And this the 1960s. Apartments were quite spacious, having several rooms.

The impressive view from the top of the stairs.

The statue of Godin in front of the Pavillon Central, with a 'map' of the Familistère on one of the sides of the base.

A plate, one of a series, in Godin's former apartment where he lived with Marie Moret. The scene is called 'La Propriété c'est le vol' ('Property is theft'), and is a satire on the anarchist Proudhon's famous quotation.

Bust in bronze of Godin by Tony-Noël, c. 1881.

Bust in marble of Marie Moret, again by Tony-Noël in 1881.

The buanderie, or laundry.

The swimming pool at the side of the laundry.

Next to the buildings there is a jardin d'agrément at the side of the River Oise, the upper part of which ends in the mausoleum where Jean-Baptiste André Godin and Marie Moret lie.

In 1938, the 150th anniverary of Godin's death, members of the Association 'Travailleurs et Pensionnés' of Guise and Brussels had erected this monument to Godin at the side of the mausoleum.

Links to my Utopia posts:
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Jean-Baptiste Godin and Utopia, Guise, Aisne (02)