Edition: U.S. / Global


Published: April 26, 1987
(Page 2 of 3)

Auxerre is also where Colette and her schoolmates came by train, in the fall of 1889, to take exams for the upper school diploma, or the brevet. As in ''Claudine a l'Ecole,'' Colette and her friends also arrived with their heads crammed with facts, and likely as not took the same inglorious precautions as those in the novel, where ''Anais had copied out all the history dates she wasn't sure of on the corner of her handkerchief. . . . Marie Belhomme had contrived to make a minute atlas that could be slipped into the palm of her hand. On her white cuffs, Luce had written dates, fragments of royal reigns, arithmetic theorems - a whole manual. The Jaubert sisters had also put down quantities of useful information on strips of thin paper which they rolled up in the tubes of their penholders.'' The old school, recently demolished, has been rebuilt as a school for boys. Natives of Puisaye still announce with pride, as did Colette, ''I am Poyaudin first; Burgundian second.'' A Poyaudin, to be sure, is someone from La Puisaye. But a St.-Sauveur bistro owner insists its true meaning is ''one whose clogs are sunk in mud.'' In summer, however, as you drive over the region's winding back roads between fields dotted with cows and sheep, or waving yellow mustard and lush crops, or near prim rows of vineyards, mud seems miles away. Here it is all greens and golds in the sunshine.

This is a storybook landscape filled with castles. One of the most imposing is the 13th-century Chateau de Ratilly at Treigny, a massive stone fortress with glistening towers, rising majestically at the end of a long pathway lined with hawthorns. Rumor has it that Colette once thought to buy it.

Chateau de St.-Fargeau, a 12th-century castle, restored in the 15th century, stands in a rich velvety park near a lake. Concerts and historical pageants are held here in summer and in the evenings the castle is illuminated.

Do not overlook Druyes-les-Belles-Fontaines with its crystal fountains, and ice-clear brooks running over rocks. It has a quiet park with a pond where ducks glide up and down with beaks the same red as the poppies on the banks. A few minutes' walk takes you to a 12th-century church, and a mile's climb leads to the top of a grassy hill where medieval ruins still stand. At the top you'll get a panoramic view of the countryside.

Boutissaint near Treigny is especially interesting for children. In its 988-acre park, animals of the region - stags, does, wild sheep, Shetland ponies, swans, pheasants, wild boar and buffalo - roam free.

At Mailly-le-Chateau, a small town built on a rocky slope, there are fine scenic walks where one can see all the bordering hills of the Morvan, and the Yonne below. A Burgundian inn here, Le Castel, serves delicious meals. The Boeuf a la moutarde a l'Ancienne we had there is one good reason for returning.

For those who look to sail, swim, fish or camp, about two miles to the southeast of St.-Fargeau is the 543-acre Lac du Bourdon, a reservoir bound by national parklands.

Near Colette's village, the small church at Moutiers was the hub of a recent furor when, following the spring drought of 1982, the whitewash crumbled in the nave and a portion of an ancient figure sprang into view. As coat after coat of whitewash was gently removed, other figures appeared. Today, the story of Adam and Eve lies clearly revealed. And as more of the whitewash is removed from the south wall, a flowered design series from the 14th century can be seen.

If you are a true devotee of Colette, go directly to St.-Sauveur-en-Puisaye. You're there when you see the ''Pays de Colette'' signs. Walk until a blue and white nameplate gleams down from a wall, announcing ''Rue Colette, 1873-1954.'' (This short, steep street was once the Rue de l'Hospice.) The ''Colette'' on the sign is written in blue in her own signature. This writer of the heart and senses always wrote with a fountain pen on blue paper, and blue was her favorite color.

At Colette's birthplace, there is another sign on a slab of rose marble between two low windows. Engraved on it are four words: ''Ici Colette est Nee.'' This two-story, early 17th-century house of stone and stucco is exactly as Colette described it: a ''lofty garret'' with its dignity ''upset a little by the steep gradient of the street, the front stone steps being lopsided, 10 on one side and 6 on the other.'' It is the hub of Colette's ''Earthly Paradise'' - a heaven that encompassed her house, garden and village; the woods, ponds, meadows and springs that bounded it; the ever-present menage of dogs and cats; her family, and above all, her mother. As she wrote, ''There are no words, no crayons, no colors that can paint for you, above a mauve slate roof adorned with russet mosses, the sky of my homeland, as it beamed down on my childhood.''

Tufts of moss still poke through the crannies of the weathered blue slates. The house is privately owned and not open to the public, but much can be seen from the outside. In Colette's time, the garden side on Rue des Vignes was thick with aubergines and pimentos, but today, if you could see over the brick wall still covered with twisted wisteria, there is an unused swimming pool with waterlilies floating on top. At the end of the garden are the twin pines that once lulled little Colette to sleep.