Patois and Dialect Writing (Post-medieval). The advent of French printing in 1470 confirmed the supremacy of Parisian French as a medium for cultural expression. Yet, very gradually, a reaction developed among educated, bilingual provincials in dialect-speaking Switzerland, Belgium, and non- Occitan France, who saw the potential of their down-to-earth patois for offering an amusing or refreshing contrast to an increasingly refined standard language, especially to express satirical and conservative viewpoints. Ironically, to be printed, dialectal literature has until recently had to rely on technology available only in towns responsible for disseminating Parisian French and threatening the survival of rural patois.
If one discounts the noëls [see Popular Song] in Parisian French with a smattering of Angevin dialectalisms published in 1524 by ‘maître Mitou’ (alias abbé J. Daniel), the earliest non-Occitan literature to be printed in dialect is Franco-Provençal, the Chanson de la complanta et desolasion dé paitré (c.1535), a Protestant's nine-stanza mock-lamentation satirizing the Genevan clergy, followed by poems in Dauphinois (c. 1550-60) by the lawyer Laurent de Briançon, and songs and carols in Savoyard (Annecy, 1555) by the cleric Nicolas Martin of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. Publications in northern French dialects now began to appear, namely two satirical poems in Poitevin, the anonymous Loittre de Tenot à Piarrot (Paris, 1554) and the celebrated Menelogue de Robin by the lawyer Jean Boiceau de la Borderie (Poitiers, 1555), both reprinted with eight other, mostly rustic, poems in the popular dialectal collection La Gente Poitevin'rie (Poitiers, 1572, enlarged 1660). The end of the century saw the publication of the anonymous Dialogue récréatif (1599), humorously commenting in Norman on life after the Treaty of Vervins, and the mock-heroic Histoire plaisante de la jalousie de Jennain sur la grossesse soudaine de Prigne sa femme (Paris, 1598), written in Saint-Quentin Picard by a royal courtier, reprinted in 1640 with a parodic sermon in Picard prose, and given a sequel in 1648. Eventually publications in Lorrain and Walloon appeared with, in 1615, La Grosse Enwaraye messine (La Grosse Amoureuse de Metz), a verse monologue on rustic manners issued with a short Fable récréative parodying chivalric romances, and, at Liège, an anonymous ode to the theologian Mathieu Naveau (1620) and an anti-Protestant sonnet (1622) by the Capuchin Hubert Ora, whose invective anticipated by some 10 years the Walloon pasquèyes protesting against military abuses. Probably both ode and sonnet are facetiously intended. Among several works unpublished amid this first flowering are the jocular Burgundian dialogues, speeches, and pastorales (Paris, BN, ms. fr. 24039; c.1580) by the eminent citizens of Dijon who belonged to the exclusive Mère Folie society.
In the 17th and 18th c. production of non-Occitan dialectal literature was, on available evidence, sporadic. Prose continued to be a less-favoured medium than verse, which was generally narrative or moralizing. Theatre is thinly represented. Lyricism was confined to noëls, which between 1650 and 1750 achieved a climax of popularity, notably now in eastern France, and were sometimes dramatized as local, contemporary Nativity plays (especially in Walloon), even degenerating into satire. Printed noëls and orally transmitted popular songs tended to circulate outside their native region and be assimilated and adapted in other dialectal cultures.
Significant writers included: J. Drouhet in Poitevin; D. Ferrand in Norman; Le Gras and F. Cottignies in Picard; L. de Ryckman and S. de Harlez in Walloon; A. Brondex in Lorrain; A. Piron and B. de La Monnoye in Burgundian; and M. Allard and B. Uchard in Franco-Provençal.
To judge by definitions in contemporary dictionaries, patois carried a social stigma. Yet a substantial proportion of the populace remained patoisant. In 1794 Grégoire reported that, of an estimated French population of 25 million, only 3 million spoke ‘pure’ French. Whether or not this was true, the measures of the Revolutionary and 19th-c. French governments ensured the increasingly rapid decline of dialect, which caused concern among the new breed of philologists seeking to record it for posterity. Dialect also became a Romantic medium for expressing individuality and nostalgia for the past, particularly in personal lyric poetry. Rather as in the 16th c., a dialectal literary movement began in reaction to the general standardizing trend, originating in the Channel Islands and around Liège, then spreading to other regions in parallel with the closerknit Félibrige movement in Provence. It won support from the many popular regionalist societies, whose mouthpiece was the local or regional press. Thus eventually, between 1839 and 1914, a fair amount of dialectal prose was read in gazettes publishing anti-government satires, polemics, and open letters, and in non-polemical almanacs.
Significant writers included: E. Lacuve in Poitevin; J. H. Burgaud des Marets in Saintongeais; G. Métivier in Guernsey French; H. Carion, A. Desrousseaux, and J. Watteeuw in Picard; M. Renard in Walloon; D. Mory in Lorrain; H. Berthaut in Burgundian; and L. Bornet, J. Hornung, L. Favrat, and C. C. Denéréaz in Franco-Provençal.
This century the upheaval of two World Wars and the ever-increasing pressure of mass media have wrought an arguably terminal decline in dialectal literature. Yet productivity is higher than in pre-Revolutionary times, and desk-top publishing now allows writers to edit their own work with ease at home. New Channel Island, Picard, and Walloon titles appear regularly, as do re-editions and collected works. Modern authors treat broader themes, though humdrum or humorous realism still abounds. The work of scientifically transcribing oral material continues.
Significant writers include: A. J. Desnouettes in Norman; G. F. Le Feuvre in Jersey French; E. David in Picard and J. Mousseron, R. Ducorron, and P. André in the Rouchi sub-dialect; H. Simon and J. Calozet in Walloon; contributors to Nate tére lôraine and E. Mathis in Lorrain; contributors to Le Bien public and Pays de Bourgogne in Burgundian; and the prolific J. Surdez in Franco-Provençal. [See also History of the French Language; Literacy; Occitan Literature (Post- Medieval)]
[Peter Davies]
Bibliography
- M. Piron, “‘Les Littératures dialectales du domaine d'oil’”, in R. Queneau (ed.), Histoire des littératures, vol. 3 (1958)
- C. Guerlin de Guer and F. Lechanteur, La Littérature patoisante (1984)
