While the Christmas market is in full swing in the upper town of Laonbetween gift ideas, pancakes, sausage and mulled wine, the enigmatic éditions Lumpen are exhibited in the Gothic gallery.
Wandering through a Christmas market is always the same: it's taking part in the popular craze of the end-of-year shopping holidays by going from stand to stand to discover sellers of gift ideas. , sausage, or even soaking up mulled wine, the only difference of which from that of another Christmas market is in its cinnamon content and the quality of the wine used.
That of Laon, installed on the square in front of the cathedral in the upper town, is ultimately not so different from those of other large towns, except for the number of exhibitors and the wind, often icy, which curls the mustaches of those who have decided not finding a place to park their car or who have had to resort to using the miserable public transport linking the lower town since the disappearance of the Poma, this strange funicular that has been stopped for several years.
Culture settles into the Gothic room
This Christmas market includes an extension in the Gothic room located under the tourist office, to the right of the cathedral. There are stands offering items that cannot be exposed to the ravages of the weather, including books. Among these exhibitors is the Laon publishing house called Editions Lumpen.
Created in 2016 by Jean-François Garcia, then absorbed in writing his first, and for the moment unique, book, this publishing house offers several collections of works, including some high quality photographic works dedicated to the city from Laon. We therefore find the collections “the other side of Laon”, on heritage, “the beginnings of the Cthulhu myth” on Lovecraft (1890-1937), the emblematic author of fantastic stories. There is also a collection for collections of poetry, mainly by Raymond Prunier, the “Terre de resistance” collection around the resistance fighters from Aisne to Chemin des Dames. But Lumpen Editions also publish non-collection works such as novels, theater, or politics. Lumpen Editions are therefore characterized by a universality of its publications, which the origin of its name did not predestine.
Birth and evolution of Lumpen editions
Indeed, for those who do not have a particularly developed culture of Karl Marx, the choice of the name of Lumpen editions is the mark of Jean-François Garcia's political commitment: “Lumpen comes from Karl Marx who uses the term Lumpen Proletariat, which designates downgraded workers. » And more literally, the “ragged proletariat”. It is also around this German philosopher that he focuses on the writing of his book, when the creation of this publishing house “had the objective of mastering the entire chain of its creation, its edition and its marketing.
Lumpen Editions therefore wanted to be a specialized activist publishing house. But destiny sometimes takes curious turns.
While it will ultimately take Jean-François Garcia seven years to complete “The Simple Words of Capital”, at the same time, he will have to keep Les éditions Lumpen alive. The closure of the Poma, a funicular connecting the lower town of Laon to the upper town, offers Jean-François Garcia the opportunity to produce a mainly photo report on this very funny machine that local politics has condemned. After the unexpected success of this book on the mechanics of the machine, “Les secrets du Poma”, Jean-François Garcia launched with Jean-Pierre Bellavoine, his photographer cousin, into a photographic work in order to highlight the city of Laon and to bring out what is most beautiful in her. “We highlighted the city of Laon,” finally blurted out the man whom his friends could nickname JFG, a bit like the well-known JFK!
Once again, success rewards this “Laon by night”. It is followed by that of “The Ox Cathedral”, in reference to a local legend and the sculptures located at the top of the towers of Laon Cathedral. These works relegated to oblivion the initial desire to publish activist works. This will not return until 2022 with the final publication of his book.
Noticed by the prefect, the latter who opened a space for him in the prefecture for an exhibition. JFG will thus produce, with his cousin, the prefectural greetings card at the end of the 2010s.
So, there are a few days left to wander the Christmas market in the upper town of Laon, before having tasted too much of the local mulled wine, a short passage through the Gothic room will allow visitors to meet authors published by Lumpen editions , but also JFG, who a generous Americano will know how to coax!
