Index of student notes for Le Chateau de ma mere
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1) Summary of the novel in English
2) Background notes
3) Biography of Marcel Pagnol
This is a sketch of the area of Provence where most of the action of the book takes place. The Pagnol holiday villa, La Bastide Neuve, is in the district of les Bellons, where Lili's family lived, to the north of the village of LaTreille. It is a wild area, ideal for families like the Pagnol, whose hobby was hunting. Their real home was in Marseille, where Joseph Pagnol worked as a teacher. To get to les Bellons, they caught the tram from the terminus in Marseille. The tramline ran as far as Aubagne, the town where Marcel had been born, but they got off at la Barasse to take the road north to la Treille and their villa. Les Bellons is dominated by five impressive peaks. The area has become a place of pilgrimage for people from many countries who admire and enjoy the works of Marcel Pagnol.
