Jèrriais literature - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Jèrriais literature is literature

Literature

Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...

Jèrriais

Jèrriais is the form of the Norman language spoken in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, off the coast of France. It has been in decline over the past century as English has increasingly become the language of education, commerce and administration...

, the Norman

Norman language

Norman is a Romance language and one of the Oïl languages. Norman can be classified as one of the northern Oïl languages along with Picard and Walloon...

dialect of Jersey

Jersey

Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...

in the Channel Islands

Channel Islands

The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...

.

The literary tradition in Jersey

Jersey

is traced back to Wace

Wace

Wace was a Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy , ending his career as Canon of Bayeux.-Life:...

, the 12th century Jersey-born poet, although there is little surviving literature in Jèrriais dating to before the introduction of the first printing

Printing

Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....

press in Jersey in the 1780s. The first printed Jèrriais appears in the first newspapers at the end of the 18th century, and the earliest identified dated example of printed poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

is a fragment by Matchi L’Gé (Matthew Le Geyt 1777-1849) dated 1795.

19th century

An astonishing boom in competing newspapers and journals throughout the 19th century provided a platform for poets and writers to publish regularly in the feuilleton

Feuilleton

Feuilleton was originally a kind of supplement attached to the political portion of French newspapers, consisting chiefly of non-political news and gossip, literature and art criticism, a chronicle of the latest fashions, and epigrams, charades and other literary trifles...

s - typically, satirical

Satire

Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...

comment on the week’s news, elections

Elections in Jersey

Elections in Jersey take place for the Assembly of the States of Jersey and at parish-level. Various parties have been formed over the years in Jersey, but few candidates stand for election affiliated to any political party. All elections in Jersey use the First-past-the-post voting system...

, politicians

Politics of Jersey

Politics of the Bailiwick of Jersey takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic constitution.As one of the Crown Dependencies, Jersey is autonomous and self-governing, with its own independent legal, administrative and fiscal systems.The legislature is the Assembly of...

and notables. Annual almanac

Almanac

An almanac is an annual publication that includes information such as weather forecasts, farmers' planting dates, and tide tables, containing tabular information in a particular field or fields often arranged according to the calendar etc...

s (up until 1958) reprinted favourite poems and stories that had appeared throughout the year, or specially composed pieces.

The copious Dgèrnésiais

Dgèrnésiais

Guernésiais, also known as Dgèrnésiais, Guernsey French, and Guernsey Norman French, is the variety of the Norman language spoken in Guernsey. It is sometimes known on the island by the semi-disparaging name "patois"...

poetry published in Guernsey

Guernsey

Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...

by George Métivier (nicknamed the "Guernsey Burns") from around 1818 inspired similar literary activity in Jersey. The international interest in Robert Burns

Robert Burns

Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...

's Scots

Scots language

Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...

poetry provided the background to a conscious effort by Channel Island

Channel Islands

writers to promote vernacular literature

Vernacular literature

Vernacular literature is literature written in the vernacular—the speech of the "common people".In the European tradition, this effectively means literature not written in Latin...

.

Matthew Le Geyt

Matthew Le Geyt

Matthew Le Geyt was the first poet to publish in Jèrriais following the introduction of printing. The earliest dated piece of his writing comes from 1795. He was from St Helier but he must have lived in Trinity as well where he was a Vingtenier....

(1777–1849) was the first poet to publish in Jèrriais following the introduction of printing. The earliest dated piece of his writing comes from 1795. He was from St Helier

Saint Helier

Saint Helier is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St. Helier has a population of about 28,000, roughly 31.2% of the total population of Jersey, and is the capital of the Island . The urban area of the parish of St...

but he must have lived in Trinity

Trinity, Jersey

Trinity is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey in the Channel Islands. It is in the north east of the island.Trinity has the reputation of being the most rural of Jersey's parishes, being the third-largest parish by surface area with the third-smallest population. The parish covers 6,817 vergées...

as well where he was a Vingtenier

Vingtaine

A vingtaine is a political subdivision of Jersey. They are subdivisions of the various parishes of Jersey, and one, La Vingtaine de la Ville , in Saint Helier is further divided into two cantons.St...

. It is suggested that Le Geyt was influenced by the Norman language purin literature of Rouen

Rouen

Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...

The first printed anthology of Jèrriais poetry, Rimes Jersiaises, was published in 1865 by Abraham Mourant. It collected works by Matthew Le Geyt, “Laelius” (Sir Robert Pipon Marett

Robert Pipon Marett

Sir Robert Pipon Marett was a lawyer, journalist, poet, politician, and Bailiff of Jersey from 1880 until his death.He was born in St. Peter on 20 November 1820 and studied at the University of Caen and the Sorbonne...

1820 - 1884, Bailiff

Bailiff (Channel Islands)

The Bailiff is the chief justice in each of the Channel Island bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey, also serving as president of the legislature and having ceremonial and executive functions. Each bailiwick has possessed its own bailiff since the islands were divided into two jurisdictions in the...

of Jersey 1880 - 1884), "L." (Henri Luce Manuel), Esther Le Hardy, and "L'Anmîn Flip" (Philippe Asplet). Some Dgèrnésiais is also included in the form of mutual tributes in verse between Laelius and George Métivier

George Métivier

George Métivier was a Guernsey poet dubbed the "Guernsey Burns", and sometimes considered the island's national poet. He wrote in Guernésiais, which is the indigenous language of the island. Among his poetical works are Rimes Guernesiaises published in 1831...

. This anthology enjoyed great popularity in continental Normandy.

Sir Robert Pipon Marett’s prestige and influence also helped to reinforce the movement towards standardisation of the writing system based on French orthography

Orthography

The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...

, a trend which was also helped by the nascent Norman

Norman language

Norman is a Romance language and one of the Oïl languages. Norman can be classified as one of the northern Oïl languages along with Picard and Walloon...

literary revival in the neighbouring Cotentin

Cotentin Peninsula

The Cotentin Peninsula, also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy, forming part of the north-western coast of France. It juts out north-westwards into the English Channel, towards Great Britain...

area of mainland Normandy

Normandy

Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...

where writers, inspired by the example of the Norman writers of Jersey and Guernsey, began their own production of literary works.

François-Victor Hugo reproduced an extract from Laelius's "La Fille Malade" in his "La Normandie inconnue", which spread awareness of Jèrriais literature far beyond Jersey but which overstated Laelius's literary influence in Jersey since Sir Robert Pipon Marett's literary production dwindled as he took on high office. Laelius is the most quoted poet from this period and the most popular in mainland Normandy, most probably because of his familiarity with and fidelity to French classical models, as well as the fact that his writing is generally less satirical than his contemporaries and therefore requires less knowledge of Jersey institutions, events and personalities.

Other influential writers include “A.A.L.G.” (Augustus Asplet Le Gros

Augustus Asplet Le Gros

Augustus Asplet Le Gros or Augustus Aspley Le Gros was a Norman language poet from Jersey and a Jurat of the Royal Court of Jersey.- Biography :...

1840 - 1877) and "St.-Luorenchais" (Philippe Langlois

Philippe Langlois

Philippe Langlois , , was a Norman language writer in Jèrriais. He wrote under the pen names of "Un Luorenchais" and "P.L."....

1817 - 1884).

Le Gros was among the first generation to be educated at Victoria College

Victoria College, Jersey

Victoria College is a fee paying States of Jersey-provided school in membership of the HMC, in St Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands. The castellated neo-gothic architecture is a landmark overlooking the town.-History:In the 1590s, Laurens Baudains - a wealthy farmer from St...

, the school founded by the States of Jersey

States of Jersey

The States of Jersey is the parliament and government of Jersey.The Assembly of the States of Jersey has exercised legislative powers since 1771, when law-making power was transferred from the Royal Court of Jersey....

on the model of English public schools. Although he trained for the law, he became a farmer by profession, and moved into politics, being elected Constable

Constable

A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...

of St. Peter

Saint Peter, Jersey

Saint Peter is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey in the Channel Islands. It is in the west central part of the island. It is the only parish with two separate coastlines, stretching from St. Ouen's Bay in the west to St. Aubin's Bay in the south, and thereby cutting St. Brelade off from other...

and eventually Jurat

Jurat

Jurat is the name given to the clause at the foot of an affidavit showing when, where, and before whom the actual oath was sworn or affirmation was made....

. He was a founder of the Société Jersiaise

Société Jersiaise

La Société Jersiaise is a scholarly society in Jersey which was founded in 1873, it promotes and encourages:* The study of the history, the archaeology, the natural history, the language and many other subjects of interest in the Island of Jersey...

. He wrote poetry in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, two volumes of which were published in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

in 1863 and 1868, but was most devoted to poetry in Jèrriais. He edited an annual literary anthology called "La Nouvelle Année", dedicated to the Norman literature of Jersey and Guernsey, between 1868 and 1875.

Philippe Langlois came from a St. Lawrence

Saint Lawrence, Jersey

Saint Lawrence is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey in the Channel Islands. The parish covers 5,258 vergées and occupies the centre of the Island....

family, hence his pen name. He studied medicine in Paris and Dublin, qualifying as a doctor. He served as Deputy in the States of Jersey

States of Jersey

and on 27 June 1876 he was elected Jurat

Jurat

Jurat is the name given to the clause at the foot of an affidavit showing when, where, and before whom the actual oath was sworn or affirmation was made....

. He was president of La Société Jersiaise, and started work on a dictionary of Jèrriais - in the Glossaire du Patois Jersiais published by the Société in 1924 and based partly on Langlois' lexicographic foundations, his poem Lé Jèrriais was reprinted (from La Nouvelle Année of 1875) as a frontispiece. This poem describes features of the various dialects of the language around the Island.

Philippe Asplet (1818–1893) wrote under the name of Flip or L'Anmin Flippe. He was a Trinity man, although he was born in St. Martin

Saint Martin, Jersey

-Subdivisions:St. Martin is divided into vingtaines as follows:*La Vingtaine de Rozel*La Vingtaine de Faldouet*La Vingtaine de la Quéruée*La Vingtaine de l'Église*La Vingtaine du Fief de la ReineThe Écréhous are part of the parish of St...

and died in Grouville

Grouville

-Vingtaines:Grouville is divided for administrative purposes into vingtaines as follows:*La Vingtaine des Marais*La Vingtaine de la Rue*La Vingtaine de Longueville*La Vingtaine de la RocqueThe Minquiers are part of the parish of Grouville....

. His spelling shows the typical z instead of th that was typical of the now-disappeared Faldouet dialect. He was a Centenier and often wrote verses on parish elections. His work appeared in the satirical newspaper La Voix des Îles, frequently as captions to caricatures. He was a supporter of Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo

Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....

and the French proscrits, and attacked the decision to force Hugo to leave Jersey. The Lieutenant-Governor

Lieutenant Governor of Jersey

The Lieutenant Governor of Jersey is the representative of the British monarch in the Bailiwick of Jersey, a Crown dependency of the British Crown....

tried to force Asplet to resign as Centenier because of his links with the proscrits, but L'Anmin Flippe refused and made public the correspondence. He spent a number of years in Paris and was clearly influenced by French poetry.

Jean Sullivan (or John Sullivan, 1813–1899) wrote under the pen-names Oméga or J.S. and is the only author known to have claimed to write in the now-disappeared St. Helier dialect, although his spelling is so idiosyncratic that it is difficult to identify which features might be typical of that dialect and which represented his personal fancies. Victor Hugo described him as "un vrai Poëte" (a true poet), although his highly coloured style full of classical allusions and antiquarianism mean that his popularity is restricted nowadays. He was a devoted monarchist, writing many poems on royal subjects, and in 1884 received permission from Buckingham Palace to translate Queen Victoria

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

's More leaves from the Highlands into Jèrriais. This project, like many others announced by Sullivan, remained unpublished or unfinished.

Into the 20th century

The de Faye sisters, Mathilda (born 1846, who wrote under the nom de plume Georgie) and Alice (1849–1925, who wrote under the nom de plume Livonia), wrote mostly about the social scene, with an interest in fashion, novelties and social events.

Philippe Le Sueur Mourant

Philippe Le Sueur Mourant was a Jersey writer who wrote in Jèrriais and French.He was born in St Saviour in 1848 and spent most of his early life working in agriculture in Newfoundland and Lorient...

(1848–1918) wrote under several pseudonyms. His first great success was with the character Bram Bilo, a self-important but naïve countryside notable. Having eventually killed off his best-known character, in 1911 he launched, under the name of Piteur Pain, a new series of articles in newspapers relating the adventures and opinions of the Pain family, newly moved to Saint Helier

Saint Helier

and its anglicized society and fashionable entertainments. The Bram Bilo stories remained more popular, being reprinted a number of times since. They were also translated into Dgèrnésiais by Thomas Grut

Thomas Alfred Grut

Thomas Alfred Grut was a Guernsey photographer and author. He published Des lures guernesiaises in 1927, a collection of newspaper columns in Guernésiais. He also translated some of the Jèrriais stories of Philippe Le Sueur Mourant into Guernésiais.Grut was also one of if not the most noted of all...

in the 1920s and published in La Gazette de Guernesey. It has also been suggested that the Bram Bilo stories influenced the writing of the Orne

Orne

Orne is a department in the northwest of France, named after the river Orne.- History :Orne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution, on March 4, 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Normandy and Perche.- Geography :Orne is in the region of...

writer, Octave Maillot.

Two volumes entitled Patois Poems of the Channel Islands were published (from 1883) by John Linwood Pitts in Guernsey. They included poems by A.A. Le Gros, Laelius, Philippe Asplet, Philippe Langlois, and Henri Luce Manuel – all with parallel English verse translations.

Jean Picot (1846–1922) was born in St. Helier but of an old Trinity family. A farmer by profession, when an injury forced him into retirement he took up literature. He wrote under the pen name of J.P., especially for La Nouvelle Chronique de Jersey and its Almanac. He often undertook translations from English, notably versions of poems by Robert Service

Robert W. Service

Robert William Service was a poet and writer who has often been called "the Bard of the Yukon".Service is best known for his poems "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee", from his first book, Songs of a Sourdough...

, and of Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures genre pieces by Douglas Jerrold

Douglas William Jerrold

Douglas William Jerrold was an English dramatist and writer.-Biography:Jerrold was born in London. His father, Samuel Jerrold, was an actor and lessee of the little theatre of Wilsby near Cranbrook in Kent. In 1807 Douglass moved to Sheerness, where he spent his childhood...

, originally published in Punch

Punch (magazine)

Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...

in the 1840s which may have later influenced Edward Le Brocq's Ph'lippe et Merrienne stories. His verses are metrical rather than syllabic.

Elie (Edwin J. Luce 1881-1918) was editor of the French language

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

newspaper La Nouvelle Chronique de Jersey and a poet who wrote topical poems for the newspaper. He was also active in promoting the development of drama in Jèrriais and organised performances, ultimately leading to the establishment of a Jèrriais section of the Jersey Eisteddfod

Jersey Eisteddfod

The Jersey Eisteddfod is a cultural festival and competition in Jersey.It was founded in 1908 by a former Dean of Jersey who saw its competitive classes as a means by which the speech, presentation, and musical standards of his fellow islanders might be improved. With the exception of the years of...

in 1912. Unfortunately for the language, he died at a young age in the influenza pandemic

Spanish flu

The 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus . It was an unusually severe and deadly pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin...

of 1918. His brother, Philip W. Luce (1882–1966), also a journalist and poet (nom de plume Ph'lippe d'la Golarde), emigrated to Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, but sent occasional writings back to Jersey.

Caouain (George W. De Carteret

George William de Carteret

George William de Carteret, George William de Carteret, George William de Carteret, (1869 St Peter, Jersey - 4 September 1940, was a Norman language journalist and writer from Jersey.Working as a farmer in St Peter, George William de Carteret wrote, under the nom de plume Le Caouain (the owl), a...

1869 - 1940) maintained a weekly newspaper column purporting to be the work of an owl (cahouain) who flew from parish hall to parish hall to report on the latest election news and local gossip. The domestic ructions of the owl and his wife, Marie Hibou, also provided a humorous commentary on social attitudes. G.W. De Carteret also wrote recitations in verse and playlets for the annual Eisteddfod competitions.

Besides Edmund Blampied

Edmund Blampied

Edmund Blampied was one of the most eminent artists to come from the Channel Islands, yet he received no formal training in art until he was 16 years old...

's work in the visual arts, he also amused himself and his friends by writing poetry in Jèrriais, signing himself as Un Tout-à-travèrs. He wrote nonsense verse

Nonsense verse

Nonsense verse is a form of light, often rhythmical verse, usually for children, depicting peculiar characters in amusing and fantastical situations. It is whimsical and humorous in tone and tends to employ fanciful phrases and meaningless made-up words. Nonsense verse is closely related to...

for children. In 1933, La Chronique de Jersey considered publishing a booklet of Blampied poems illustrated by the artist himself, but the plans came to nothing.

Since 1940

During the Occupation

Occupation of the Channel Islands

The Channel Islands were occupied by Nazi Germany for much of World War II, from 30 June 1940 until the liberation on 9 May 1945. The Channel Islands are two British Crown dependencies and include the bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey as well as the smaller islands of Alderney and Sark...

(1940–1945), little original writing was permitted to be published by the German military censorship

Censorship

thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...

. However very many older pieces of literature were re-published in the newspapers as an act of cultural self-assertion and morale-boosting. Some literature circulated clandestinely, such as Edmund Blampied's words for an insulting anti-Hitler song entitled La chanson Hitleur written in 1944.

After the Occupation and with the re-establishment of a free press, the re-opened English language newspaper, The Morning News, under the editorship of Edward Le Brocq (1877–1964) revived the weekly column in 1946 with a letter from Ph'lip et Merrienne, supposedly a traditional old couple from St. Ouen

Saint Ouen, Jersey

-Cueillettes:Unlike the other parishes of Jersey, the subdivisions of this parish are not named vingtaines, but cueillettes . Vingteniers are still elected, however, in the cueillettes.*La Petite Cueillette*La Grande Cueillette...

who would comment on the latest news or recall time past. On the final closure of the Morning News in 1949, the letters transferred to the last remaining French language newspaper in Jersey, Les Chroniques de Jersey until its closure in turn in 1959 when they transferred to the Evening Post
Jersey Evening Post
The Jersey Evening Post is a regional newspaper published six days a week in the Bailiwick of Jersey. It was printed in broadsheet format for 87 years, though it is now of compact size. Its motto is: "At the heart of island life".-History:The Evening Post was founded in 1890 by H.P...

until the author's death in 1964.

The most influential writer of Jèrriais in the 20th century was a U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

citizen, George Francis Le Feuvre (1891–1984) whose pen-name was “George d’la Forge”. He emigrated to North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

after the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

but for almost forty years maintained a flow of articles in Jèrriais back to Jersey for publication in newspapers, first in Les Chroniques de Jersey (1946–1954) and later in the Evening Post (subsequently Jersey Evening Post ) (1964–1984). Selections of his articles have been published in book form as Jèrri Jadis and Histouaithes et Gens d'Jèrri.

Frank Le Maistre (1910–2002) (known as Dr. Fraînque Le Maistre, although his doctorate was honorary), compiler of the dictionary, maintained a literary output starting in the 1930s with newspaper articles under the pseudonym Marie la Pie, poems, magazine articles, research into toponymy

Toponymy

Toponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...

and etymology

Etymology

Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...

. He himself considered his masterpiece the translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is the title that Edward FitzGerald gave to his translation of a selection of poems, originally written in Persian and of which there are about a thousand, attributed to Omar Khayyám , a Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer...

that he undertook during the German Occupation.

The foundation of L'Assembliée d'Jèrriais, a body to preserve and promote the language, in 1952 led to the publication of a quarterly journal, Lé Bulletîn d'Quart d'An, providing a literary outlet for Jèrriais which became even more important after the closure of Les Chroniques de Jersey in 1959. The editor was Frank Le Maistre.

Lé Bulletîn d'Quart d'An ceased publication in 1977, having notched up a quarter-century, and was replaced by Les Chroniques du Don Balleine (1979–1987) which in turn gave way to the current Les Nouvelles Chroniques du Don Balleine (winner of the Prix Littéraire du Cotentin in 1993).

Following the death of George d'la Forge, Sir Arthur de la Mare (1914–1994), a retired ambassador, took over the task of contributing regular columns to the newspaper. Written in the Trinity

Trinity, Jersey

dialect

Dialect

The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...

, as distinct from the St. Ouen dialect used by George d'la Forge and Frank Le Maistre which is laid out in the standard grammar of Jèrriais and the standard dictionaries, Sir Arthur's articles included reminiscences of his life as a diplomat, especially in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

and Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, as well as comments on events and politics in Jersey. Sir Arthur's mix of foreign tales and domestic farming comments continued the pattern set by George d'la Forge who alternated between reminiscences of his youth in Jersey, his life in North America and travels round the world, and commentary on news sent from Jersey. Since Sir Arthur's death, a roster of contributors have maintained the tradition of the weekly newspaper column.

19th century

Into the 20th century

Since 1940

See also