Memoirs Of A Breton Peasant

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Memoirs of a Breton Peasant is drawn from Deguignet's voluminous notebooks, written from 1897 to 1904, recently discovered in a grandniece's cupboard in Brittany. Deguignet is unique not only for being a literate peasant, but also for his scepticism regarding the church, his interest in science and languages, and for his keen observations of the world and people around him.

Reviews

"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 lifetimes 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 Dguignet 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

Author Bio

Born in 1834 to landless farmers in Brittany, the young JEAN-MARIE DGUIGNET was sent out several times a week as a child to beg for his familys food. After spending his adolescence as a cowherd and a domestic, he abandoned the province for a soldiers life, avid for knowledge of the wider world. Having grown up speaking only Breton, Dguinet taught himself Latin, French, Italian and Spanish and read broadly in history, philosophy, politics and literature during his travels. He was sent to fight in the Crimean war, to attend Emperor Napoleon IIIs coronation ceremonies, to support Italys liberation struggle, and to defend the hapless French puppet emperor Maximilian in Mexico. Eventually Dguinet returned home to Brittany, where he worked as a farmer and tobacconist before falling back into poverty. He died in 1905.