Strollers along the coastal heights of Douarnenez, a town located in Brittany near the westernmost point of continental France, come across a signpost summing up the life of Georges Perros (1923 1978) and quoting one of his incisive aphorisms. Dazzled by the sea, Perros had settled here in 1959, living anonymously in this fishing port, scraping a living as a freelance author and manuscript reader, publishing a few books, teaching briefly, corresponding with his writer-friends and riding his motorcycle out along the country roads. The image of the fame-shunning poet dwelling far from the sophistication of the capital also belongs to Perros s lasting reputation. But behind the folksy, sometimes sighing, sometimes bitter, sometimes sardonic, sometimes resigned voice lurks an intensely sensitive, highly cultivated ruminator on the human condition. He is best remembered for the autobiographical poems collected in "Poemes bleus" (Blue Poems, 1962) and "Une vie ordinaire" (An Ordinary Life, 1967), and above all for "Papiers colles" (Paper Collage, 1960, 1973, 1978), his three volumes of maxims, vignettes, short prose narratives, occasional diary-like notations, critical remarks, and personal essays. Literally, "papiers colles" refers to the glued bits or scraps of paper forming a collage. This first English translation of a selection of these touching and thought-provoking short texts includes numerous maxims, a genre in which Perros excelled. With typical modesty, the author called himself a "journalier des pensees," a day labourer who tills thoughts.

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Georges Perros, né Poulot, was a French author and critic.