Camargue, the Rhône delta region, connects two episodes in the novel’s layered oral history: El Planeta’s legendary journey to a pilgrimage site on its coast and Ana and José’s later visit, where flamenco, Roma gathering, and the delta’s flamingos converge.

Setting and Legendary Journey

In José’s account, Camargue is defined by its geography: the sanctuary of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer lies between the two principal arms of the Rhône delta. The place enters the narrative through a story about El Planeta, who is said to have set out from Cádiz in the spring of 1842 for the sanctuary. According to the legend, he reached Marseille on 26 May and worked for a time as a dockworker to earn money for the return journey. A few weeks later, the story claims, an incident occurred that would be passed down through generations.

The account is explicitly uncertain rather than documentary. José calls the underlying tale more of a tall story, says he has found no written record of the Andalusian tradition, even from more recent times, and notes that it has many variants within the Maya family. He describes it as oral tradition, or a circuit of myths, and mentions a supposedly equally old but independent Swiss tradition. Camargue thus serves as a specific destination within a narrative whose authority rests on retelling, variation, and shared motifs rather than written evidence.

Ana and José’s Pilgrimage

Camargue returns in the account of Ana and José’s own pilgrimage to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. They had gone there among Roma from across Europe for a large gathering, where Ana danced flamenco. Their visit links the region to a living communal practice as well as to the older tale about El Planeta: the legendary journey is retold alongside the couple’s remembered participation in a gathering.

The delta’s flamingos provide a concrete counterpart to the performance. Ana and José recalled seeing all the flamingos of the Rhône delta during their visit. The birds also give José an occasion to correct Frank’s wordplay: Frank observes that “maya” names both an Indigenous American people and a Hindu concept, without linguistic kinship; José counters that “flamenco” is also the name of a wading bird, likewise without etymological relation. In this exchange, Camargue’s human and natural associations meet through a pun that is pointedly not a claim of shared origin.

Narrative Significance

The two appearances make Camargue a meeting point for distinct kinds of inheritance. El Planeta’s story reaches it through a disputed, multiform oral tradition; Ana and José reach it through pilgrimage, dance, and personal recollection. The region’s place in the Rhône delta also grounds these stories in a particular landscape, while the flamingos connect that landscape to the novel’s recurring attention to names, resemblance, and the difference between an evocative association and a demonstrable relationship.