“The Belgian perspires, the Frenchman sweats”

Bruno Demoulin states clearly at the outset that this book has nothing to do with political sniping. This statement is helpful in a period in which linguistic communities have been known to be extremely touchy about critical remarks from members of other communities. “This is not a manifesto. It’s a scientific work, and a set of equable observations. There is a certain vitality in Wallonia, and it can be made visible. Without pretension, without false modesty, without being pushy about things. We wanted to help others understand that we are neither adversaries nor inferiors.”

In order to provide a broader opening for this book that seeks to characterise Walloon culture, a section entitled “Wallonia and the other” offers outside observers the chance to express their feelings about Wallonia. First and foremost, there is the contrast with France, so close and yet so different. We cannot resist repeating this passage from the Liège Maurice Piron, which expresses this contrast in specific terms: “The Belgian perspires, he takes off the skin of a fruit, pays on an account, watches teevee and waits for his pension to be paid out. The Frenchman sweats, peels a fruit, deposits funds, watches ‘la télé’ and waits for his retirement to be paid out.” There are similar reflections from Germans, people from Brussels, and Flemish people. A cartoon by Pierre Kroll showing a cage at the zoo filled with Walloons, being fed by Flemish people who have come to observe them, included as part of this section, is worth more than many speeches as a summing up of all the clichés bandied about by some of our northern cousins about the Walloons who are supposed to be lazy, greedy, likely to go on strike and socialistic…

The final chapter raises a delicate question: “Is there a Walloon identity?” We consider ourselves in the first instance to be Walloons, Belgians, people from Liège; Wallonia, a kind of liberating act in itself that we embrace in cultural terms, seems in this sense more self-effacing than the other components. “The Walloon identity is recent. It is still seeking itself, it is in the process of construction,” according to Bruno Demoulin. “It is also superimposed upon other attachments that we have. It may have felt threatened at one time. But culture is undoubtedly the glue that holds it together.”

So, at the end of 400 pages, how do we define Walloon culture? “Multiple, without a border, generous, open, tolerant, influenced by several sources yet having retained its own authenticity and its particular traits,” the historian concludes. “We must not forget the sense of derisive humour, which can be turned back on itself, a thing that does characterise Walloons, especially those with creative talent. It is thanks to them and to the culture that Wallonia will be able to rise again and be reborn, as it has done already in the past.”