Brittany's richly layered landscape has contributed depth and
character to the region's traditional oral culture, from stories of
the sea and shore to tales of misty moors, sacred hill-tops and
secretive forests. Evangelizing Dark Age saints from Britain laid
the foundations of Breton language and society, imposing
Christianity on the landscape and in the minds of the people. Their
legacy rests visually in the prolific spread of chapels, churches
and cathedrals, and the Celtic language still preserved with pride.
Right on the edge of Europe, the region has been vulnerable to
assault and exploitation. Franks, Vikings, English, Germans have
all made their mark, resisted at every turn with resilience. The
problematic relationship with neighbouring France before and after
Union in 1532 has left wounds to this day. The rapacity of the
ancien regime was followed by deprivation of privileges during the
Revolution, attacks on religion and subsequent suppression of the
Breton language which struck at the very heart of Brittany. The
nineteenth century combined economic stagnation with growing
interest in Celtic roots, fuelling the search for that ultimate
chimera - Breton identity. Historians and poets began to assert the
distinct character of the region, while foreign travellers also
left accounts of a people speaking an unfathomable language and
appearing a race apart. This "primitivism" coupled with the lure of
the mysterious megaliths created an image of wild exoticism, and
made Brittany a prime target for tourists and artists. Today the
past is perpetuated and the future welcomed in a packed festival
calendar of Celtic music and Breton culture. Yet for all its
modernity, Brittany remains as intensely complex and challenging to
preconceived notions as ever. LANDSCAPE AND LEGENDS: Marches of
Brittany; Druids and megaliths; St-Malo and sea adventures;
mysteries of the Monts d'Arree; Merlin in the Foret de Broceliande.
COMPLEXITY AND AMBIGUITY: part of France yet a separate world;
nationalism, regionalism, resistance, unity and division of
language; four departments or five? WRITERS AND ARTISTS: Chaucer,
Balzac, Hugo, Flaubert, Ernest Renan, Thomas Adolphus Trollope,
Arthur de la Borderie, Mathurin Meheut, Max Jacob, Yves Tanguy.
General
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