Pêr-Jakez Helias
Pêr-Jakez Helias, baptised Pierre-Jacques Hélias, nom de plume Pierre-Jakez Hélias (1914–1995) was a Breton stage actor, journalist, author, poet, and writer for radio who worked in the French and Breton languages. For many years he directed a weekly radio programme in the Breton language and co-founded an Eisteddfod-inspired summer festival at Quimper which became the Festival de Cornouaille.
Life and work
Helias was born in 1914 in
Pierre-Alain Hélias had previously served at Vannes in an artillery unit of the French Army and, upon the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, he was recalled to active service. Pierre-Jacques Hélias later recalled that, during his father's combat duty as a Poilu on the Western Front, he and his mother were given, "twenty sous a day... to keep ourselves alive". His father's sickle was wielded during harvest-time by his mother and was sharpened upon a stone moistened with her tears. Hélias further recalled, "When my father returned home from the battlefield, he let his wife keep the sickle. For he thought he was no longer it's master, that mother had truly earned it... In the end,it's blade wasn't much bigger than that of a pocket knife. I rather think that tears are more effective than stone for wearing down a sickle."[4] One of Hélias' maternal uncles, who had been serving before the war as an officer in French Indochina, was less fortunate, and returned to France only to be killed in action during the First World War.[5]
While writing about "the last decades of the old Brittany" as described in Hélias' memoir, Marcus Tanner wrote, "His universe was peopled by poor families who spoke Breton, obeyed priests, went to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days and cured illnesses by visiting
Hélias had a modest upbringing, but this included a good education.
After a career in the
Helias later recalled of the era, "As soon as World War II ended, 'Celtic Clubs' were being founded everywhere in Brittany, but especially in the Breton-speaking regions. The members were young people whose objective was to bring the peasant tradition, with all its costumes, it's dances, and it's games back into esteem. Within ten years several hundred of these groups had been organized. At the same time, thanks to the persistence of a few pioneers, other young people began to take lessons from the last of the professional bagpipers and oboeists, who were ending their lives in a state of melancholy... Think of thousands of young people involved in traditional art forms at a time when their traditions were both alive and threatened, perhaps even doomed, and faced with a new society which they couldn't count on in any way. How could they possibly not have protested?"[10]
Working with
The
Helias's best-known and most often performed play is Mevel ar Gosker, or 'The Yardman of Kosker'. A mevel bras (
Helias's poetry includes two collections in Breton, Ar men du (1974, The Black Stone) and An tremen-buhez (1979, The Pastime). An important theme in his work was his devotion to the Breton language and its power. One of his lines translates as "Breton speaker that I am, my heritage lies on my tongue, it shall never be yours".[7][12]
His best-selling work is his memoir Le cheval d'orgueil, or
Helias also collected Breton folk tales and published work on the Breton language and culture. He became a major figure in Breton literature during the last third of the 20th century[7] and the Encyclopædia Britannica of 1997 says of him, "Per-Jakez Helias as poet, playwright, and radio script writer has been both prolific and popular."[13]
Despite his importance to
This was far from uncommon at the time, though, and during an early 21st century interview with Marcus Tanner, Ronan le Coadic explained that post-1789 French Government schools have successfully sold the French language as, "the language of progress" and have taught minority language speakers that, "All others were the languages of the Church and the nobility. Children were taught that Breton was the language of poverty and the past. Even recently I have interviewed people who recalled their shame at school for knowing Breton."[16]
In contrast, ever since Pope Gregory XI issued the règle d'idiom ("the rule of idiom") in 1373, Roman Catholic clergy were commanded to learn how to preach to and communicate with their flocks in the vernacular. This is also why, ever since the French Revolution, the traditional proverb in the Breton language (Breton: "Ar brezonek hag ar feiz, A zo breur ha c'hoar e Breiz") ("Breton and [the] Faith are brother and sister in Brittany"), was once commonly quoted.[17]
For this reason, unlike other Breton language revivalists of his time, Hélias did not solely blame the French Government or the coercive Francization of the state schools for the recent collapse en masse that he had witnessed of the Breton language and culture. He also expressed extremely harsh criticism of the actions of local Catholic bishops and clergy during the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council. The removal of often centuries-old works of Christian art and the replacement of the Tridentine Mass in Ecclesiastical Latin with the Mass of Paul VI in French, instead of in Breton, was, in Hélias' opinion, far more to blame and had also caused the recent secularization of the region.[18]
He wrote, "There were Reds in the Church, people said. Soon everyone was to go to Mass as they went to school. In other words, some were to be good pupils and others bad pupils. Not so very long ago, everyone understood everything in the same way; each one of them truly partook of the sacraments; and they all knew several hymns by heart, hymns that rang out through the church. Now, the singing rings hollow; indeed, the elderly don't even dare participate. Mass is no longer a joy; it's not even restful. Lukewarm soup without any flavor."[19]
Even though Hélias ended his memoir by expressing hope for a Breton,
Helias died on 13 August 1995 in Quimper, Brittany.[23] According to Marcus Tanner, despite the controversy that greeted him upon their release, Hélias' memoirs are still used very successfully to attract tourism to the region of Brittany where he grew up and whose threatened culture he immortalized in Le cheval d'orgueil.[24]
In popular culture
- Hélias's memoir was adapted into a film of the same name by director Claude Chabrol in 1980.
Selected publications
- Biskoaz kemend-all (1947)
- Eun ano bras, darvoud en eun arvest (1953)
- War eun dachenn foball (1955)
- Danses de Bretagne (1955)
- Mojennou Breiz I (1957)
- Tan ha ludu (1957)
- Eun den maro ha ne goll ket e benn (1958)
- Mojennou Breiz II (1959)
- Mevel ar Gosker (play, 1959)
- Kanadenn Penn ar Bed (1959)
- Marvaillou ar votez-tan. Contes bretons du sabot à feu (1961)
- Comme on connaît ses saints (1961)
- An Izild a-heul; Yseult seconde (play, 1963)
- Maner Kuz. Manoir secret (1964)
- Divizou eun amzer gollet. Devis d'un temps perdu (1966)
- Contes bretons du pays bigouden (1967)
- Bretagne aux légendes : la mer (1967)
- Costumes de Bretagne (1969)
- Contes bretons de la Chantepleure (1971)
- Tradition bretonne : le savoir-vivre (1973)
- Légendes du Raz de Sein (1972)
- Ar men du; la pierre noire (poetry, 1974)
- Le cheval d'orgueuil, Mémoires d'un Breton du pays bigouden (autobiography, 1975)
- Tradition bretonne : logis et ménages (1975)
- Comment un Breton devint roi d'Angleterre (1976)
- Les autres et les miens: le trésor du Cheval d'orgueil (1977)
- Peziou-c'hoari Jakez Krohen (1977)
- Penaoz e teuas eur Breizad da veza roue Bro-Zaoz (1977)
- Le Grand valet, La Femme de paille, Le Tracteur - Théâtre I (1977)
- Lettres de Bretagne: langues, culture et civilisations bretonnes (1978)
- An tremen-buhez; le passe-vie (poetry, 1979)
- La sagesse de la terre (1980)
- Quimper en Cornouaille (1980)
- Au pays du Cheval d'orgueil (1980)
- Piou e-neus lazet an hini koz? (1981)
- L'esprit du rivage (1981)
- L'herbe d'or (novel, 1982)
- Images de Bretagne (1983)
- La colline des solitudes (novel, 1984)
- Les contes du vrai et du semblant (1984)
- Marh ar lorh: pennadou bet dibabet evid ar skoliou (Breton autobiography, 1986)
- Dictionnaire bretons. Breton-français, français-bretons (1986)
- Bugale Berlobi I - Brud an Dreued (1987)
- Lisbonne (1987)
- Bugale Berlobi II - Marvaillou da veva en ho sav (1988)
- Vent de soleil (1988)
- Midi à ma porte (1988)
- Amsked. Pobl an noz; Clair-obscur. Le peuple de la nuit (1990)
- Le quêteur de mémoire: quarante ans de recherche sur les mythes et la civilisation bretonne (1990)
- La nuit singulière (1990)
- D'un autre monde; A-berz eur bed all (poetry, 1991)
- Katrina Lenn-zu (1993)
- Le diable à quatre (novel, 1993)
- Le piéton de Quimper (1993)
- Ruz-Kov ar foeterez-vro: gand seiteg tresadenn war pri-poaz gand Dodik (1996)
- Ventre-à-Terre, l'aventurier
- Un pays à deux langues (2000)
Notes
- ^ Pierre Jacques Hélias (1979), The Horse of Pride: Life in a Breton Village, Yale University Press. Page 1.
- ^ Pierre Jacques Hélias (1979), The Horse of Pride: Life in a Breton Village, Yale University Press. Page 26-28.
- ^ Pierre Jacques Hélias (1979), The Horse of Pride: Life in a Breton Village, Yale University Press. Page 4-5.
- ^ Pierre Jacques Hélias (1979), The Horse of Pride: Life in a Breton Village, Yale University Press. Pages 29-31.
- ^ Pierre Jacques Hélias (1979), The Horse of Pride: Life in a Breton Village, Yale University Press. Page 25.
- ^ Marcus Tanner (2004), The Last of the Celts, Yale University Press. Page 258.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-85109-440-0.
- ^ Pierre Jacques Hélias (1979), The Horse of Pride: Life in a Breton Village, Yale University Press. Page 131-176.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8020-0719-3.
- ^ Pierre Jacques Hélias (1979), The Horse of Pride: Life in a Breton Village, Yale University Press. Pages 328-329.
- ISBN 978-0-415-93910-2.
- ^ Brezoneger wa 'z on, war ma zeod eman ma berez, birviken ne vo deoh.
- ^ The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, volume 1 (1997), p. 602
- ISBN 978-0-422-60560-1.
- ^ Pierre Jacques Hélias (1979), The Horse of Pride: Life in a Breton Village, Yale University Press. Pages 304-307.
- ^ Marcus Tanner (2004), The Last of the Celts, Yale University Press. Page 281.
- ^ Jelle Krol (2020), Minority Language Writers in the Wake of World War One: A Case Study of Four European Authors, Palgrave. Page 219.
- ^ Pierre Jacques Hélias (1979), The Horse of Pride: Life in a Breton Village, Yale University Press. Pages 337-340.
- ^ Pierre Jacques Hélias (1979), The Horse of Pride: Life in a Breton Village, Yale University Press. Page 340.
- ^ Pierre Jacques Hélias (1979), The Horse of Pride: Life in a Breton Village, Yale University Press. Pages 348-351.
- ISBN 978-0-422-60560-1.
- ^ John Ardagh, France in the 1980s (1982), p. 134
- ^ Douglas Johnson (18 August 1995). "Pierre-Jakez Helias". The Independent.
- ^ Marcus Tanner (2004), The Last of the Celts, Yale University Press. Page 258-259.
Further reading
- Pierre-Jakez Hélias, book #36, published by Skol Vreizh
- Per-Jakez Hélias. Niverenn ispisial, special edition #172, published by Brud Nevez, 1994
- Francis Favereau: Pierre-Jakez Hélias, Bigouden universel, published by Pluriel
- Thierry Glon: Pierre-Jakez Hélias et la Bretagne perdue, published by Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 1998
- Pascal Rannou: Inventaire d'un héritage — Essai sur l'œuvre littéraire de Pierre-Jakez Hélias, published by An Here, 1997; new édition by Les Montagnes noires, 2014.