Places.
River Charente, France.
"The most beautiful river of the realm" Henri IV (1589-1610)
The heart of the novel is inspired by the area between the towns of Angouleme and Cognac in West France. Here the beautiful river Charente meanders its way to the Atlantic in beautiful countryside. It is not perfect, modern so-called improvements have taken place such as the fast new roads near by. But the spirit of the river which Charles Morgan loved still lives on.
'On the run into Jarnac, delightful chateaux are scattered through the wooded fields; nearing the town, the air thickens with the sweet smell of brandy, and one can almost become inebriated on the aroma' ''Waterways of Euorpe.'
Charles Morgan wrote the 'La Voyage' in Jarnac, a more Protesant town than the Catholic Cognac. He stayed with members of the Delamain family who blended 'noble Cognac'. (Robert Delamain 'Histoire du Cognac' Paris 1938)
''The Protestant 'temple' in Jarnac is austerely devoid of decoration, remindful of nothing so much as of a Quaker meeting house. Indeed, the partly Protestant origins of the cognac trade, the continuing Protestant element in the tradition, and the influence it has sometimes had on the courses that the trade has taken, are reminiscent of the connexion in Britain between coca and Quakerism'
Charles Morgan '....he knew that the streets, the houses, the trees and the river-banks looked the same to him as they had done to the characters in his book, two generations earlier. They look the same now, a generation later, as does most of the countryside.'
The above quotes are from 'Cognac' by Cyril Ray. Pub: Peter Davis, London. 1973
'Fantasy about a fool of God'
Charles Morgan stayed with Jaques and Germaine Delamain at Brunderaie de Garde Epee. It seems that Barbet was inspired by Jaques who was skilled in country crafts, wine grower and brillant ornithologist on which subject he published several books. Germaine was a translator of Charles Morgans novels into French.
In 1948 he told his wife Hilda that the Delamain's are 'wonderful human beings.' To his delight they appeared unchanged after the 2nd WW.
To Germaine he wrote: I could not of been happier than I was in your house. It is full of happy memories for me and of glorious expectations. For many years, Jaques - with his lunettes en bardouliene - was for me a symbol of peace, and to have seen you also for the first time the darkness lighted and was a strange joyful satisfaction - a fulfilment of prophacy.'
In the same year he took part in a Lecture tour of the Universities of France, Caan University gave him an Honorary Degree and he was given the Honour of the Bibliotheque Nationale.
