Memoirs of a Breton Peasant - Softcover

Jean-Marie Deguignet

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1609803469 ISBN 13: 9781609803469

Publisher: SEVEN STORIES PRESS, 2011

Synopsis

A fascinating document of an extraordinary life, Memoirs of a Breton Peasant reads with the liveliness of a novel and bristles with the vigour of an opinionated autodidact from the very lowest level of peasant society. 19th century Brittany was a place seemingly frozen in the Middle Ages and backwards by most French standards. Formal education among rural society was either unavailable or dismissed as unnecessary, while the church and local myth defined most people's reasoning and motivation. Jean-Marie Deguignet is unique as a literate Breton peasant.

About this title

Product Description:

hard to find

Review:

"What makes it gripping reading is not only that it offers a rare view of 19th-century French society from the bottom up; it is also written from the perspective of a lifetime's experience. He both suffers and celebrates his suffering as the price of his nonconformity. A fascinating account."--Alan Riding, New York Times Book Review

"Linda Asher has now given Déguignet a splendidly faithful English voice: pugnacious, tetchy and opinionated."--David Coward, London Review of Books

"Never a dull moment in his company. Must be read."--Le Telegramme

About this edition

• Publisher: SEVEN STORIES PRESS
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1609803469
• ISBN 13: 9781609803469
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432