Toulouse: Bernard Durand, uncompromising writer of the American dream
Always passionate about the United States, Toulouse-based Bernard Durand publishes his first book “Bitter America-If it’s a dream, I’ll know it”, recounting three years of peregrinations between fantasy and reality.
We have an appointment with Bernard Durand, at his home at Les Minimes, in Toulouse. In an unusual place: the reconstituted saloon in his garden, lined with thirty photographs of western stars, from William Holden to Burt Lancaster via Gary Cooper and Kirk Douglas.
The 75-year-old writer has just published his first book “Bitter America. If it’s a dream, I’ll know it “recounting his three years of wandering between the Blue Mountains and the foothills of the Rockies:” The American dream rocked my generation. We were naive to believe that all was well in this model country. Youth need illusions, ”believes the one who has always written but whose desire for Trump has materialized. “Robert Kennedy was so much the antithesis of this burlesque and rude character.”
Because one of the major themes of this book, where the chapters take the name of mythical films, is Senator Robert Kennedy. “I met him in 1966, when I was a student in Virginia, details the founder and president of the Cinespana festival from 1996 to 2003. A school program then taught me in Washington where Robert Kennedy presented” Hare You “program of ‘hope for the black population’. With seven other students, Bernard Durand discovers the man in his office and then feels “love at first sight” for his charisma.
“Robert Kennedy knew how to seduce and defuse aggression with a touch of humor”
Shortly after, becoming a professor of French literature at the University of Nebraska, and already very involved in the movement against the Vietnam War, Bernard Durand follows his idol in his electoral campaign: “Listening to his first meeting followed by 20,000 people, I was touched by humans. With real nerve that I was the first to kill, I followed him into the elevator and its suite. Then, together we visited an Indian reserve plunged in the greatest misery. There lived the young Pretty Boy aged eight, with whom Robert Kennedy will discuss at length, far from journalists. To be there seemed like a dream to me ”.
Later, Bernard Durand will be part of the staff of the young American senator. “Robert Kennedy knew how to seduce and defuse aggression with a touch of humor. Always very vocal about the situation of blacks, he visited the ghettos and invested 100%, worried about the future left to young people ”. Bernard will follow Kennedy’s last meeting in Omaha: “It was the last time I saw him. When he heard of his assassination on June 5, 1968 in Los Angeles, I was prostrate for 24 hours. It was the worst day of my life, ”he admits.
“I’ve been to America nineteen times and follow the news on CNN, four hours a day”
Since then, this writer has traveled to the United States nineteen times: “In 1996 with my family for a big tour of the South by car. No less than 9000 km. There, I saw that the country was like another. It was a first shock. “
The second, Bernard Durand, felt it on September 11, 2001 during the attacks against the Twin Towers: “It brought me back to the country. It was also at that time that I built this saloon in my garden. With my wife , we also launched guesthouses for ten years to receive American students. Certainly to bring a little America to our home. “
With interest he followed the election of Obama “for which, I had not too many illusions”. Posed upside down, as tradition dictates, the American flag during Trump’s election to disagree “I also let off steam on Facebook”. And shortbread the champagne when Jo Biden came to power. “Biden is a centrist whose action is to support those in need. Today, Democrats and Republicans no longer talk to each other, bringing hatred into politics. That’s the problem. It was very different to me. period. The same phenomenon takes hold in France “. This does not prevent this “lover” – now objective – of the United States to follow the news on the CNN channel, four hours a day.