Tales and legends: a rich oral tradition
The Breton imagination is full of legends and magical beings. This folklore has its roots in pagan Celtic mythology, later tinged with Christian religiosity.
Among the protagonists: fairies and korrigans, who populate fountains, dolmens, caves... Fairies are also fond of lakes and rivers, korrigans of woods and moors. Fairies are generally benevolent, happy to help the brave and modest, but can also be vindictive and cruel. Of great beauty, they know how to heal, make gold, sing beautifully and love to seduce men. The korrigans can also be generous, but these mischievous dwarves tend to play nasty tricks on humans, especially if they disrespect them.
Another major figure, the Ankou, personifies death, a subject that haunts the Breton imagination. Draped in a long cape, he travels on a creaking cart, his scythe mounted upside down in his hand. Sculptures of the Ankou can be seen in several churches and ossuaries, such as Ploumiliau and Brasparts.
The most famous of Breton legends is undoubtedly that of the city of Ys, a kind of Breton Atlantis led to its doom by Dahut, the terrible daughter of King Gradlon. The Arthurian myth also figures prominently in the regional imagination. Born across the Channel at the time of the Anglo-Saxon invasions, it was widely disseminated and adopted in Brittany. The legendary forest of Brocéliande is associated with Paimpont, where you can follow in the footsteps of King Arthur, the knight Lancelot, Merlin the magician, the fairies Morgane and Viviane... A world to discover at the Centre de l'imaginaire arthurien, housed in the château de Comper.
All these oral traditions have been perpetuated thanks to the work carried out by folklorists in the 19th century. In 1839, the first of these, Viscount de La Villemarqué, published the Barzaz Breiz, a collection of Breton folk songs, a central work in the region's literary heritage. Others followed him in collecting folk tales: François-Marie Luzel in Lower Brittany, Paul Sébillot in Upper Brittany and Anatole Le Braz, author of the famous Légende de la mort (Legend of Death), which recounts beliefs linked to death, which are very prevalent in Brittany.
Romanticism and exoticism
In the 19th century, during the age of Romanticism, Brittany was a fertile breeding ground for writers: its wildly beautiful landscapes lent themselves to contemplation, melancholy and mystery, the key themes of this artistic movement. The region, which remained untouched by the industrial revolution and preserved an original culture, was seen as an exotic and picturesque place to explore. Numerous artists and writers travelled to Brittany, including Balzac, George Sand, Jules Michelet, Gustave Flaubert and Maxime Du Camp, who wrote Par les champs et les grèves in 1847, an account of their peregrinations through the region.
Brittany also gave birth to and inspired the precursor of French Romanticism, François-René de Chateaubriand. Born in Saint-Malo in 1768, he spent part of his childhood at the Château de Combourg, a chapter in his life that would shape his melancholy. The author of Mémoires d'outre-tombe is buried in the corsair town, facing the sea: his tomb on the islet of Grand Bé, accessible at low tide, is an important place of literary pilgrimage, and a romantic one at that.
The 19th century also saw the rise of travel writers. In addition to the stories it inspired, Brittany, open to the world through its maritime anchorage, provided some of the greatest names in the field, such as Victor Segalen, a naval doctor with a passion for Chinese culture, and Pierre Loti. This Brest-based naval officer published many books inspired by his travels. But it was in Brittany that he drew the material for his most famous novel, Pêcheur d'Islande: published in 1886, it realistically depicts the harsh life of the cod fishermen of Paimpol.
Contemporary Panorama
Among the great Breton writers of the 19th century were Paul Féval, author of numerous successful serial novels, the intellectual Ernest Renan and Alfred Jarry, father ofUbu-roi and pataphysics.
In the 20th century, between the wars, the Briochin Louis Guilloux established himself as a major writer, with his socially-aware novels such as Le Sang noir. After 1945, literature was no exception to the Breton revival: poet and writer Xavier Grall became an ardent defender of the Breton cause, while in 1975, Pierre-Jakez Hélias published Le Cheval d'orgueil, a largely autobiographical tale in which he depicts Bigouden peasant society rooted in its traditions. The work was widely acclaimed, and helped restore pride to rural Brittany. As for Henri Queffélec, it's the Brittany of the seas and islands that he describes in his novels, with realism and poetry. The sea also cradles the work of his son Yann, writer and navigator.
Another great Breton writer, Irène Frain from Lorient, draws part of her inspiration from her native land. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2008, Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, from a Breton family who emigrated to Mauritius, is another in a long line of travel writers. As is Michel Le Bris, founder of the Etonnants voyageurs festival in Saint-Malo and champion of world literature.
Brittany also has its poets: Tristan Corbière and Auguste de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, figures of symbolism in the 19th century; Eugène Guillevic, one of the greatest French poets of the 20th century; Anjela Duval, a Breton-speaking poet from the Trégor region; Christian Prigent and his protest work; and Yvon Le Men, winner of the 2019 Goncourt poetry prize.
Last but not least, the region is home to a large number of comic strip artists, led by Jean-Claude Fournier, who signed nine Spirou et Fantasio albums, including one dedicated to the Ankou. His Rennes studio has served as a breeding ground for a number of young comic strip artists, including Kris, Michel Plessix and Emmanuel Lepage, a brilliant Costa Rican writer of travel diaries and comics with an international flavour.
