He is already the author of dozens of books, but clearly does not intend to stop writing. A new work called “Le Lot-et-Garonne in 101 dates”, signed Alain Paraillous, was published in October, by Éditions “La geste”. The former French professor looks back on the history of his department, linking the local story to the national one, dusting off the forgotten figures. “It was an order for a collection,” says the writer. “101 dates is both a lot and too little. There are always regrets once you have finished,” he confides, specifying that he would have liked to develop certain points further, and in particular the figure of the poet Jacques Boé, known as Jasmin.
The author is familiar with local history. He published a fictionalized biography on the journey of Eleanor of Aquitaine, called “Rejois-toi Jerusalem”, but also fictions like “The Crossroads of the Mixed Winds”, the plot of which is set in the South-West. Obvious for the author, who highlights his attachment to Lot-et-Garonne. “I am one of those people who are deeply rooted in the land,” he assures.
A subjective work
Alain Paraillous takes the reader on a journey through time. His story takes place in the prehistoric period, crosses the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, to arrive at the gates of the 21st century.e century. He mentions Charlemagne, the Hundred Years' War, but also the period of the department stores which were established in Agen at the end of the 19th century.e century, with a key date for each event. A fairly subjective work, believes the former professor. “It’s a bit of a reflection of what I had already stored, collected, which corresponded to my tastes,” he says.
Among all these dates, three seem particularly important to him. First of all, the digging of the lateral canal to the Garonne, in 1838, an “extraordinary historical error”. He then cites the birth of the poet Théophile de Viau, in 1590, and the opening of the Billières galleries, on the Boulevard de la République in Agen, in 1895.
