“Today, the rain curtain is leaning to the left.” With facetious brown eyes, the author of this poem enjoys a steaming tea in a Lausanne café, ready for the interview. Adèle de Montvallon is 18 years old, and this is her first. What the shadow says about the light, his first collection of poems.
Obviously, we ask her why she chose poetry, when she has just admitted that she is more into science. “I completed my degree in biology and chemistry, and now I have just started law at the University of Lausanne. Poetry? A bit by chance,” smiles Adèle. It was when she went to attend a presentation during her studies at the Marcelin gymnasium in Morges that it clicked. “Why not write poems, after all? That’s when I decided. My Maturity work would be literary. It was a challenge for me.”
Her friends are a bit surprised by this choice. They think it’s a joke. His parents, both inclined towards reading and literature, were not.
“My mother, who is interested in psychology, was very enthusiastic about my choice. My father, who reads a lot, said to himself “phew!” it will get her out of her obsession with medicine and biochemistry.”
Clan mechanics
When she spoke about her collection to her grandfather, Thierry Barrigue, (editor’s note: press cartoonist and founder of “Vigousse”), he was not immediately convinced. “That was before I read it! Then he said we had to do something with it,” remembers Adèle.
The family mechanism then begins around the young woman. And the project takes on a new dimension: its collection will be published. “My mother read me again and gave me valuable advice. My father supported me in my approach. My grandparents reread my texts carefully.” Without forgetting to also mention his publisher, Olivier Morattel: “He devoted a lot of energy to the publication of my book. I was also fortunate to be able to count on the support of writers Jean-François Fournier and Quentin Mouron.”
In their village at the foot of the Jura, the members of the clan live very close to each other. “I have always lived there, and when we moved, it was in the same village,” says the woman who cannot at all see herself leaving the family nest to settle in the city. “I love nature so much! This is where my imagination expresses itself best. Too much, perhaps. When I was little, I was a mix of princess and Robin Hood, both sensitive and reckless. This is perhaps what explains my desire for a challenge.” Or how to surprise people by launching into poetry, when you tend to have a scientific profile, for example.
Everyday paintings
“Today, the rain curtain is leaning to the left.” For Adèle, it is one of the eighty-four poems that inspired her the most. “He says a lot of things, yet the point is obvious. It’s like the 46th: “Such a wild place. Yet trash.” On reading, these two score. The longer ones, which describe landscapes, nature or sometimes scenes of urban life, are just as intriguing and evocative. Like so many little paintings of everyday life, his poems complement each other.
“For eight months, I had my little notebook with me, and I took notes. On the bus, at home, in the forest. A little everywhere.”
«It allowed me to explore another part of myself, to anchor myself in the present and also to disconnect in a certain way,” says Adèle, who did not abandon her cell phone during this period. “I’m not going to say the opposite, but it’s true that this writing work helped me to be in the present moment. I was on my phone less.”
The cup of tea is finished. After the interview, it’s time for the photo shoot. The moment also for Adèle to realize what is happening to her. “It’s not nothing to publish a book…” And what do her friends who are skeptical of her choice say about it? “They were there at the opening, they read the collection and found that it suited me.” Head to the Femina editorial team. Time to slip that she doesn’t just read or write: “I also give badminton lessons to 10-17 year olds. I did the training a year ago and it taught me humility, organization, problem management,” laughs Adèle. A way for her to get out of her comfort zone, again.
