List of Norman language writers
Encyclopedia
Here is a list of significant writers in Norman (and published works) of more recent times (for Channel Island authors, see Jèrriais literature
and Dgèrnésiais
). Literature in Norman
ranges from early Anglo-Norman literature
through the 19th century Norman literary renaissance to modern writers.
Alfred Rossel (1841-1926, from Cherbourg)
Bon-Prosper Lepesqueur (6 August 1846 – 31 January 1921, from Digulleville)
Charles Lemaître (1854–1928, from Saint-Georges-d'Aunay)
Octave Maillot (1861–1949, from Tinchebray)
Arnould-Désiré Galopin
(9 February 1863 – 9 December 1934, from Marbeuf)
Louis Beuve (1869–1949, from Quettreville-sur-Sienne
)
François Enault (1869–1918, from the Cotentin)
Henri Ermice (1870–1958)
Joseph Mague (1875–1940, born in Brittany of Norman parents but raised in the Bessin
)
Louis Gouget (1877–1915)
Maurice Le Sieutre (1879–?, from Le Havre
)
Charles Birette (1878–1941)
Charles Le Boulanger (1880–1929)
Alfred Noël (1883–1918, from Valognes
)
Gaston Lerévérend (1885–1962, from Calvados
)
Gaston Demongé (1888–1973, from the Pays de Caux
)
Charles Lepeley (1889-1970, from Barfleur
)
Pierre Gueroult (1890–1962)
Gabriel Benoist
Jean-Baptiste Pasturel (1895–1962, from Périers
)
Jean Tolvast (Auguste Toullec 1898–1945, from Cherbourg)
Marceau Rieul (Marcel Sorieul 1900–1977, from Bolbec
)
Jehan Le Povremoyne (Ernest Coquin 1903–1970, from Le Havre)
Alfred Mouchel (1905-1989, from the Val de Saire)
Gires Ganne (Fernand Lechanteur 1910–1971)
Christian Lambert (1912–2000, from Livarot
)
Côtis-Capel
(Albert Lohier 1915–1986, from Cherbourg)
Aundré-Joseph Desnouettes (André Dupont 1920–200?, from Equeurdreville)
Hippolyte Gancel (born 1920)
Lucien Malot (born 1921 in Bolbec)
André Louis (1922–1999 from Octeville)
Marcel Dalarun (born 1922)
René Saint-Clair (born 1923)
Jèrriais literature
Jèrriais literature is literature in Jèrriais, the Norman dialect of Jersey in the Channel Islands.The literary tradition in Jersey is traced back to Wace, the 12th century Jersey-born poet, although there is little surviving literature in Jèrriais dating to before the introduction of the first...
and 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"...
). Literature in 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...
ranges from early Anglo-Norman literature
Anglo-Norman literature
Anglo-Norman literature is literature composed in the Anglo-Norman language developed during the period 1066–1204 when the Duchy of Normandy and England were united in the Anglo-Norman realm.-Introduction:...
through the 19th century Norman literary renaissance to modern writers.
Alfred Rossel (1841-1926, from Cherbourg)
- Author of songs, including the Cotentin anthem Sus la mé
Bon-Prosper Lepesqueur (6 August 1846 – 31 January 1921, from Digulleville)
- Wrote under the pseudonyms of Boûnnin Poulidot and P. Lecacheux. His prose stories appeared regularly in Le Phare de la Manche 1899–1905, and he was also the author of a number of songs published in sheet form in Cherbourg signed P. Lecacheux.
Charles Lemaître (1854–1928, from Saint-Georges-d'Aunay)
- Author and performer of monologues, published in sheet form and later collected in volumes Les Joyeux Bocains (1917), Hélas qu'c'est drôle (1924), Eiou qui va lés trachi (1912), Bonnes gens de Normandie
Octave Maillot (1861–1949, from Tinchebray)
- One of the less-numerous authors writing in southern Norman (below the ligne Joret), two volumes of his prose stories in Norman were published under the title Contes normands in 1937 and 1948.
Arnould-Désiré Galopin
Arnould Galopin
Arnould Galopin was a prolific French writer with more than 50 novels to his credit. Galopin won the French Academy's Grand Prize for his Sur le Front de Mer , a critically acclaimed novel about the Merchant Navy during World War I, and wrote several equally acclaimed novels about his experiences...
(9 February 1863 – 9 December 1934, from Marbeuf)
- Best known as a prolific author in French of popular fiction: adventure stories, historical novels, travel writing and detective fiction, Galopin also wrote the article Le Patois normand published in Le livre du Millénaire de la Normandie, 911–1911 (Paris 1911) and is known to be responsible for the authorship of a small number of poems in the La HagueLa HagueLa Hague is a region on the tip of the Cotentin peninsula in Normandy, France.La Hague is a picturesque place of Precambrian granite cliffs, coves and small fields surrounded by hedges. It faces the Channel Islands and there any many cousins on both side of the Alderney race.The dialect of the...
dialect of Norman.
Louis Beuve (1869–1949, from Quettreville-sur-Sienne
Quettreville-sur-Sienne
Quettreville-sur-Sienne is a commune in the Manche department in north-western France.-See also:*Communes of the Manche department...
)
- Poet, follower of Rossel and friend of Frédéric MistralFrédéric MistralFrédéric Mistral was a French writer and lexicographer of the Occitan language. Mistral won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1904 and was a founding member of Félibrige and a member of l'Académie de Marseille...
, co-founder of Le Bouais-Jan with Enault, manager of Le Courrier de la Manche, collection published in 1950 Œuvres choisies by Fernand Lechanteur
François Enault (1869–1918, from the Cotentin)
- Born in VarenguebecVarenguebecVarenguebec is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France....
28 May 1869, the eldest of twelve children. Went to Paris in 1887 to study for a legal career, but followed his inclination for the visual arts. He became a cartoonist under the pseudonym Mob for a number of publications. In 1900 he drew and wrote for La France Illustrée and, using the pseudonym Jean Frinot, contributed texts in Norman for the Journal de la Manche published in St-Lô. Founder of Le Bouais-Jan with Louis Beuve. He became chief editor of La France Illustrée in 1911. His health suffered during the First World War and he died as a result 24 November 1918. A collection of his stories Les propos de Jean Frinot was published in 1930. His stories about the characters Pierre and Catheraine Loustalot continue to be republished nowadays, notably by the Almanach de la Manche.
Henri Ermice (1870–1958)
- Born 17 September 1870 in Saint-Germain-sur-Ay. After working as a teacher in VireVireVire is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.- History :In 1123, Henri I Beauclerc, King of England and Duke of Normandy, had a redoubt constructed on a rocky hill top, which was surrounded by the Vire river...
, he became a bookseller and publisher of postcardPostcardA postcard or post card is a rectangular piece of thick paper or thin cardboard intended for writing and mailing without an envelope....
s on which he printed GallicisedGallicismA Gallicism can be:* a mode of speech peculiar to the French;* a French idiom;* in general, a French mode or custom.* loanwords, words or phrases borrowed from French....
versions of verses in Norman — Monologues humoristiques en patois normand of which more purely Norman forms also exist, but the more French-influenced texts were considered to have wider commercial appeal. Some more purely Norman pieces were published in a collection Choix de poésies normandes et de monologues en patois de notre pays in 1956.
Joseph Mague (1875–1940, born in Brittany of Norman parents but raised in the Bessin
Bessin
The Bessin is an area in Normandy, France, corresponding to the territory of the Bajocasse tribe of Gaul who also gave their name to the city of Bayeux, central town of the Bessin.-History:The territory was annexed by the Duchy of Normandy in 924....
)
- Active in literary societies, published Les Chansons du Bessin in 1912 in postcard form for commercial sale.
Louis Gouget (1877–1915)
- Collection Au Val d'Orne (1922)
Maurice Le Sieutre (1879–?, from Le Havre
Le Havre
Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...
)
- Poet and sculptor, who also set his own words to music; songs and poems published in Vie normande, Bulletin des parlers normands, Bulletin des parlers populaires.
Charles Birette (1878–1941)
- Born in Montfarville in the Val de Saire, he published a collection of stories in Norman A l'Entoue de la Cremillie and a number of historical studies. He is best known for his Dialecte et Légendes du Val de Saire. He died in Dinan 18 June 1941.
Charles Le Boulanger (1880–1929)
- Born in Cerisy-la-Salle 20 January 1880, published two collections of poetry in 1908 and 1920 both entitled Ciz nous. He also performed his poems and monologues in public at local fairs around the Cotentin. A friend of Louis Beuve. He died in Touques 29 June 1929.
Alfred Noël (1883–1918, from Valognes
Valognes
Valognes is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.It lies on the Merderet river, southeast of Cherbourg.-History:...
)
- A writer and performer of songs.
Gaston Lerévérend (1885–1962, from Calvados
Calvados
The French department of Calvados is part of the region of Basse-Normandie in Normandy. It takes its name from a cluster of rocks off the English Channel coast...
)
- Collections of poetry include L'hus entrebâyei (1919), Mei-j'vo-l'dis, and L'hus bâyi (1955)
Gaston Demongé (1888–1973, from the Pays de Caux
Pays de Caux
The Pays de Caux is an area in Normandy occupying the greater part of the French département of Seine Maritime in Haute-Normandie. It is a chalk plateau to the north of the Seine Estuary and extending to the cliffs on the English Channel coast - its coastline is known as the Côte d'Albâtre...
)
- Wrote under the pseudonym Mait' Arsène, published a collection of poetry and prose Les Terreux in 1925 prefaced by a brief overview of Norman literature. A collection of histoires cauchoises titled Aux Gars de Normandie appeared in 1917.
Charles Lepeley (1889-1970, from Barfleur
Barfleur
Barfleur is a commune in the Manche department in the Basse-Normandie region in north-western France.-Middle Ages:In the Middle Ages Barfleur was one of the chief ports of embarkation for England....
)
- A parish priest in the Val de Saire, between 1928 and 1938, the Abbé Charles Lepeley wrote about a hundred humorous tales, often with a moral point behind them, for the parish magazine L'Hirondelle.
Pierre Gueroult (1890–1962)
- Born in Pont-l'Abbé at PicauvillePicauvillePicauville is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.-Heraldry:-World War II:After the liberation of the area by Allied Forces in early June 1944, engineers of the Ninth Air Force IX Engineering Command began construction of a combat Advanced Landing Ground to the...
11 June 1890, worked as a teacher, and served as deputy mayor of Cherbourg. Published his first pamphlet En Tisounants around 1920. Author of poems, monologues, dramatic works and prose works. Published works include: Vûles gens, vûs métyis (1948), collections Théâtre normand (1972), Poésies et chansons (1974), Contes et récits (1978 and 1980). His dramatic verse monologue La pouore vuule folle du Bouon-Sâoveu is considered a classic of modern Norman literature; it tells of a woman driven to madness waiting years for her soldier son to return from the war in which he died.
Gabriel Benoist
- Cauchois author of Thanase Pequeu stories of which three volumes were published in the 1930s
Jean-Baptiste Pasturel (1895–1962, from Périers
Périers
Périers or Perrières is the name or part of the name of several communes in France:*Périers, Manche, in the Manche département*Périers-en-Auge, in the Calvados département*Périers-sur-le-Dan, in the Calvados département...
)
- Collection Histouères de tchu nous (1968)
Jean Tolvast (Auguste Toullec 1898–1945, from Cherbourg)
- Wrote regular columns in newspapers Le Réveil and Le Journal de Valognes. Collections of his stories were published as Chroniques normandes (1934 and 1941)
Marceau Rieul (Marcel Sorieul 1900–1977, from Bolbec
Bolbec
Bolbec is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France. Its inhabitants are called Bolbécais or Bolbécaises.-Geography:...
)
- Author of Arseine Toupétit
Jehan Le Povremoyne (Ernest Coquin 1903–1970, from Le Havre)
- A Cauchois author who wrote mostly in French, but frequently employed dialogue in Norman to a greater or lesser extent in his writings.
Alfred Mouchel (1905-1989, from the Val de Saire)
- Described a "peasant-poet", he contributed poems and short stories for almost 40 years to the newspaper La Presse de la Manche, as well as compiling a Norman glossary (1944).
Gires Ganne (Fernand Lechanteur 1910–1971)
- Author of La Normandie traditionnelle, a collection of articles on language and traditions, his poetry (Es Set vents du Cotentin, 1972) only became widely known after his death. He worked to unify the orthography of the Norman language, proposing reforms. In 1968, he founded an association Parlers et Traditions Populaires de Normandie. A Viking-boat-shaped stone monument to his memory was erected after his death near the seashore of his native Agon.
Christian Lambert (1912–2000, from Livarot
Livarot
-External links:* .* ....
)
- Wrote regular pieces in Norman for the LisieuxLisieuxLisieux is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.Lisieux is the capital of the Pays d'Auge area, which is characterised by valleys and hedged farmland...
newspaper L'Éveil de Lisieux under the title of Radotages de Maît' Jules (collected for publication 1984)
Côtis-Capel
Côtis-Capel
Côtis-Capel was the pen name of Albert Lohier, a Norman language poet. He was from La Hague and wrote in the Haguais dialect of Cotentinais.-Bibliography:* Poetry collections** Rocâles ,...
(Albert Lohier 1915–1986, from Cherbourg)
- Priest and fisherman, highly influential poet in La Hague, Rocâles (1951), A Gravage (1965), Raz Bannes (1971), Graund Câté (1980), Les Côtis (1985), Ganache (1987); winner of the Prix littéraire du Cotentin in 1964
Aundré-Joseph Desnouettes (André Dupont 1920–200?, from Equeurdreville)
- Winner of the Prix littéraire du Cotentin in 1970. As a historian, published a history in French of the département of Manche. His literary career in Norman started in 1952 with the publication of a collection of comic poems En Ritounaunt. A cycle of a hundred sonnetSonnetA sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...
s were published as Sonnets cotentinais en parler populaire du pays in 1958 and 1961 in Études normandes. In 1968, he published L'Épopée cotentine, an epic poem of 4628 lines inspired by the models of Wace and other Anglo-Norman poets. His poetry frequently evokes Norman history, but also treats daily life.
Hippolyte Gancel (born 1920)
- Flleurs et plleurs dé men villâche (1982 and 1986), winner of the Prix littéraire du Cotentin in 1984
Lucien Malot (born 1921 in Bolbec)
- Taking up literature on his retirement, he has produced texts in CauchoisCauchoisCauchois is one of the eastern dialects of the Norman language, spoken in, and taking its name from, the Pays de Caux region of the Seine-Maritime départment.-Status:...
for the newspaper Le Courrier Cauchois. A collection of stories Eul taiseu de Boulbé was published in 2008.
André Louis (1922–1999 from Octeville)
- Born 6 February 1922, he was a teacher by profession, wounded in the French Resistance during the Second World War, became president of the Société Alfred Rossel, and president of the Fédération de l'Ouest des Groupes Folkloriques de France. Worked with Fernand Lechanteur on the reform of Norman orthography and became a founder member and secretary of Parlers et Traditions Populaires de Normandie which developed into the magazine Le Viquet. He wrote a novel Zabeth (1969), untypically for Norman literature, a rural love story rather than a light-hearted satire. He was awarded the Prix littéraire du Cotentin in 1971. He died 27 December 1999.
Marcel Dalarun (born 1922)
- Poet from the Cotentin has produced poems for children and to be set to music, collection A men leisi (2004) and other, published by the group Magène
René Saint-Clair (born 1923)
- Poet from the Cotentin