Gwalarn ("Northwesterly") was a

Breton language Breton (, ; or in Morbihan) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albeit as a member of t ...

literary journal. By extension, the term refers to the style of literature that it encouraged. 166 issues (numbered from 0 to 165) appeared between 1925 and May 1944. The journal was founded by

Roparz Hemon Louis-Paul Némo (18 November 1900 – 29 June 1978), better known by the pseudonym Roparz Hemon, was a Breton author and scholar of Breton expression. He was the author of numerous dictionaries, grammars, poems and short stories. He also fou ...

and

Olier Mordrel Olier Mordrel (29 April 1901 – 25 October 1985) is the Breton language version of Olivier Mordrelle, a Breton nationalist and wartime collaborator with the Third Reich who founded the separatist Breton National Party. Before the war, he worked a ...

Manifesto

The journal published a manifesto in February 1925. The manifesto stated the aim of ''Gwalarn'' was to prove that the

could become a vehicle for

high culture High culture is a subculture that emphasizes and encompasses the cultural objects of aesthetic value, which a society collectively esteem as exemplary art, and the intellectual works of philosophy, history, art, and literature that a society cons ...

. This was written in response to some French authors, including

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

, who had alleged that Breton was nothing more than the crude speech of peasants:

Gwalarn is above all something new and unique: a literary magazine aimed at the Breton elite, and whose ambition is nothing less than setting
Breton literature Breton literature may refer to literature in the Breton language (''Brezhoneg'') or the broader literary tradition of Brittany in the three other main languages of the area, namely, Latin, Gallo and French – all of which have had strong mutual ...
on the road that follows the longstanding literature of many small nations:
Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
,
Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...
,
Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...
, among others...For the first time, a Breton revue will publish a pure literature, closing the door on
patois ''Patois'' (, pl. same or ) is speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. As such, ''patois'' can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects or vernaculars, but not commonly to jargon or ...
... twill adopt a language of classical formality with a rigorous
orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and mos ...
. ''Gwalarn'' is an experiment: to determine whether there is an audience in Brittany educated enough to understand
literary language A literary language is the form (register) of a language used in written literature, which can be either a nonstandard dialect or a standardized variety of the language. Literary language sometimes is noticeably different from the spoken langu ...
(as far from the language of the Breton peasant as that of Mr. France is of the French peasant), a public informed enough to engage with a Breton literature that, while seeking to tap the sap in the genius of the race, wants to be European in spirit, drawing on modern European literary techniques, both in expression and in thought.Alain Deniel, ''Le mouvement breton'', Maspéro, 1976, , p. 69

The main contributors were mostly very young. In addition to Hemon, the most important writers were

Abeozen François Eliès, born Fañch Eliès Garzanti p. 1 and better known by the pseudonym Abeozen, (1896 Saint-Sauveur, Finistère – 1963 La Baule) was a Breton nationalist, novelist and dramatist who wrote in the Breton language. Abeozen was also ...

Youenn Drezen Youenn Drezen (14 September 1899 – 17 February 1972) is the Breton language name of Yves Le Drézen, a Breton nationalist writer and activist. He is also known as Corentin Cariou and Tin Gariou. Youth He was born in Pont-l'Abbé, Finistère ...

, Jakez Riou,

Gwilherm Berthou Gwilherm Berthou (10 May 1908, Paimpol – 14 March 1951, Rennes) was a Breton nationalist and neo-Druidic bardic poet. He was a member of the Breton artistic movement Seiz Breur. Terrorism Berthou was born in Paimpol, Côtes-d'Armor. He trained ...

, Yannn-Eozen Jarl, Kenan Kongar, Fant Rozec,

Xavier de Langlais Xavier de Langlais (April 26, 1906 in Sarzeau – June 15, 1975) was a Breton painter, printmaker and writer. He usually signed his work with the name Langleiz, a Breton language version of his surname. Early career Langlais studied art in Nante ...

, and Maodez Glanndour. These writers produced the "classic" literary Breton of the twentieth century. The content was varied. ''Gwalarn'' regularly published

literary translation Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

s into Breton of foreign authors and poets, including

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...

Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian people, Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so we ...

J.M. Synge Edmund John Millington Synge (; 16 April 1871 – 24 March 1909) was an Irish playwright, poet, writer, collector of folklore, and a key figure in the Irish Literary Revival. His best known play ''The Playboy of the Western World'' was poorly r ...

, and

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

. Great emphasis was placed on

Celtic mythology Celtic mythology is the body of myths belonging to the Celtic peoples.Cunliffe, Barry, (1997) ''The Ancient Celts''. Oxford, Oxford University Press , pp. 183 (religion), 202, 204–8. Like other Iron Age Europeans, Celtic peoples followed a ...

and legends, including the

Welsh mythology Welsh mythology (Welsh: ''Mytholeg Cymru'') consists of both folk traditions developed in Wales, and traditions developed by the Celtic Britons elsewhere before the end of the first millennium. As in most of the predominantly oral societies Cel ...

preserved in the ''

Mabinogion The ''Mabinogion'' () are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, create ...

''. Essays on philosophy and

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...

cultures were also common, including discussions of

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

and

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

. Additionally, ''Gwalarn'' published poems, plays, and essays on contemporary concerns.

History

Olier Mordrel no longer participated in the journal after 1928, but Roparz Hemon stayed on as an editor until the last issue. Gradually, ''Gwalarn'' expanded, producing a popular supplement "kannadig Gwalarn" in 1932 and books for children. The latter were distributed free in schools to children who had participated in essay competitions in the Breton language. Associated with collaborationist politics during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the magazine was linked to the Breton language radio station

Radio Rennes Bretagne Radio Rennes Bretagne (in Breton: ''Radio Roazon-Breiz'') was a radio station based in Rennes, and the first station to have regular Breton language programming. However, it was not powerful enough to broadcast to the Breton-speaking western parts ...

, which was set up by the Germans. In consequence, it was forced to close after the

Liberation of France The liberation of France in the Second World War was accomplished through diplomacy, politics and the combined military efforts of the Allied Powers of World War II, Allied Powers, Free French forces in London and Africa, as well as the French R ...

. After the war, a new magazine with the same function was created under the title ''Al Liamm'', which continued the project of creating a Breton literary culture.

References

{{Authority control Breton nationalism Breton-language newspapers

Manifesto

Contents

History

References