Tanguy Malmanche (7 September 1875 – 20 March 1953) was a French writer involved in the revival of

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...

culture. His first name also appears as Tangi. The son of Gustave Malmanche, a ship's

purser A purser is the person on a ship principally responsible for the handling of money on board. On modern merchant ships, the purser is the officer responsible for all administration (including the ship's cargo and passenger manifests) and supply. ...

based in Paris, and Marie Louise Piédalu, he was born Tanneguy Malmanche at

Saint-Omer Saint-Omer (; vls, Sint-Omaars) is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France. It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Saint Audomar, ...

, where his mother's parents lived. He grew up in

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress *Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria *Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France **Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Brest, ...

, where he was exposed to Breton language and culture. His father's family had included several Brest mayors. Malmanche continued his studies at the

Collège Stanislas de Paris The Collège Stanislas de Paris (), colloquially known as Stan, is a highly selective private Catholic school in Paris, situated on " Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs" in the 6th arrondissement. It has more than 3,000 students, from preschool to '' clas ...

. He studied law in

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

and literature in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. Malmanche performed his military service in an infantry regiment at Brest. He worked with the railway, then in insurance, before establishing himself in

Courbevoie Courbevoie () is a commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine Department of the Île-de-France region of France. It is in the suburbs of the city of Paris, from the center of Paris. The centre of Courbevoie is situated from the city limits of Par ...

as a master

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

. In 1912, he married Jeanne Briantais. He joined the army at

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

in 1914, but later returned to Courbevoie to produce material for the army. In 1903, he started a Breton journal ''Spered ar vro''; only four issues were produced. From 1904 to 1905, he taught a class in the

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 ...

. He also published ''Le Memento du Bretonnant, manuel élémentaire et pratique de langue Bretonne'' which summarized the material covered in the course. He died at Clichy-la-Garenne after suffering a

hemiplegia Hemiparesis, or unilateral paresis, is weakness of one entire side of the body ('' hemi-'' means "half"). Hemiplegia is, in its most severe form, complete paralysis of half of the body. Hemiparesis and hemiplegia can be caused by different medic ...

at the age of 77.

Works

Malmanche produced seven plays in French and Breton: * ''Gurvan, le Chevalier étranger'' (Gurvan, Ar Marc'hek Estranjour) * ''Les Païens'' (Ar Baganiz) * ''La Vie de Salaün qu'ils nommèrent le fou'' (Buez Salaun Lesanvet ar Foll) * ''Le Conte de l'âme qui a faim'' (Marvaill ann ene naounek) * ''La veuve Arzur'' (An Intañvez Arzur) * ''La femme du couvreur'' (Gwrek an toer) * ''L'Antéchrist'' (An Antechrist) In French, he produced: * a novel ''La Tour de Plomb'' * three stories: ''Kou le Corbeau'', ''La Monstre de Landouzan'' and ''Suzanne Le Prestre''

References

1875 births 1953 deaths 20th-century French dramatists and playwrights People from Saint-Omer Writers from Brittany 20th-century French novelists {{France-writer-stub