Dante's Divine Comedy in Breton

In subscription, this monument of medieval literature in Breton is the subject of a revised and expanded re-edition. Explanatory text below.

This 13th-century work is the journey of its author, Dante, guided by Virgil through Hell, then Purgatory, and finally Paradise. The adjective "dantesque" in French refers to these thousands of very expressive verses that will inspire many of our Breton hymns and gwerzes (laments) about the Afterlife. Adapted by the priest Pêr Bourdellez, he thus avoided the convoluted and heavy style of a word-for-word translation filled with expressions foreign to Breton.

As the founder of Italian literature, which is 800 years old, overflowing with imagination and animated by a deep and living faith, this text is close to the Breton and Celtic spirituality of the Voyage (see the Voyage of Saint Brendan and the founding of Little Brittany fifteen centuries ago). Is there another people in the world more in tune than the Bretons with this text where we find expressions such as "an Ifern yen" ("the cold Hell"), angels flying like bees, details similar to the "Purgatory of Saint Patrick" composed in 4,000 verses by Louis Eunius at the end of the 18th century in Breton, to "The Girl Married to Satan" in the Barzhaz Breizh, or to the Legend of the Death of Anatole Le Braz?…

The style is close to the Gwerzioù, like the dramatic tales told by the fireside during the end-of-year festivities, which have existed in Breton for at least four centuries. However, to sing them, it would have been necessary to rhyme and find rhymes of equal length. Pêr Bourdellez preferred to seek a harmonious rhythm in the spirit of his mother tongue. This work grants Breton access to a foundational monument of world literature in the vernacular language.

This 200-page color-illustrated book (A5) is available for subscription on the Helloasso site of Emglev an Tiegezhioù for the price of 20 euros, shipping included.