Legends of literature
Literature and the Côte-d'Or have always been closely linked. A number of illustrious names have left their mark on the history of the department. Like Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, better known as Madame de Sévigné (1626-1696). The famous marquise was born in Paris, but had strong ties here: her grandmother, Saint Jeanne de Chantal, founder with Saint François de Sales of the Visitation order, was from Dijon. Madame de Sévigné's correspondence includes a number of stays in the region, notably at and around the "vieux château", Château de Bourbilly, near Semur-en-Auxois. Part of her correspondence is addressed to her cousin, Roger de Bussy-Rabutin (1618-1693), long exiled in his château at Bussy-le-Grand. The sulphurous writer was an avowed libertine, which earned him several banishments from the royal court. Particularly when he recounted in great detail the orgy he had participated in during Holy Week. Sent back to his magnificent château in the upper Côte-d'Or, he recreated his world through a series of portraits that can be seen today in the building that bears his name: portraits of men of war in the antechamber, court ladies in the bedroom, statesmen in the salon de la Tour dorée, kings and dukes of Burgundy in the gallery leading to the chapel. Bussy-Rabutin was also a contemporary of the famous Bossuet (1627-1704), well known for his funeral orations. A native of Dijon, the churchman grew up in a family of magistrates; his father was dean of the city's parliamentary councillors. At the same time, playwright Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (father of Crébillon fils) was also born in Dijon, in 1674. He may well have been acquainted with another Côte-d'Orien man who has gone down in history: Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon (1707-1788). A naturalist, landowner, ironmaster, architect and builder, Buffon was born in Montbard and always remained attached to it, dividing his time between his native town and Paris, where he was appointed Intendant of the Jardin du Roy (the future Jardin des Plantes). In Montbard, you can visit his former home, where he wrote most of the 36 volumes of his Histoire naturelle, which influenced many naturalists, from Darwin to Lamarck. In 1745, Buffon appointed Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton (also a Montbard native) as "Garde et démonstrateur du Cabinet d'Histoire Naturelle". Daubenton became the1st Director of the Paris Natural History Museum in 1793.
In the 20th century too..
Forgotten for over 50 years, Jacques Copeau (1879-1949) was nevertheless a major figure in the world of theater in the first part of the 20th century. A critic for several Parisian newspapers, he took part with André Gide in the creation of La Nouvelle Revue Française in 1908, then founded the Théâtre du Vieux Colombier, before setting up a drama school. In October 1924, Copeau and his troupe left Paris for the Château de Morteuil in Merceuil, near Beaune. Later, Copeau and his troupe settled in Pernand-Vergelesses. They performed their plays there, as well as in the squares of the surrounding villages. Fully integrated into local life, the comedians even took part in agricultural and viticultural work! It was also here that Copeau wrote Le Théâtre populaire (1941), an essay that influenced the theatrical conception of the great Jean Vilar, founder of the Avignon Festival and director of the legendary Théâtre National Populaire (TNP). Jacques Copeau died at the Hospices de Beaune in October 1949. He is buried in the Pernand-Vergelesses cemetery, beside singer and songwriter Graeme Allwright (1926-2020), his grandson by marriage.
But if there's one writer who has had a profound impact on the region, even proving to be a true ambassador for its traditions and history, it's Dijon-born Henri Vincenot (1912-1985). His two most famous novels (La Billebaude and Le Pape des escargots), written in a lively language, are steeped in Burgundian landscapes and accents. At the end of his life, he chose to settle in the village where he loved to spend his vacations, Commarin, where his grandparents lived. However, he spent his entire life rebuilding a ruined hamlet he discovered by chance during a hunting trip with his grandfather (La Pourrie, in Saint-Victor-sur-Ouche). It is here, in this locality he bought, that he now rests.
Dijon inspires writers from all over the world
Did you know? Dijon has often been the setting for some of the world's greatest writers. All over the world! Take, for example, the American Henry Miller: in Tropique du Cancer, published in 1934, he evokes Dijon (and its mustard!). It has to be said that 3 years earlier, he had been a furtive English teacher at the city's Lycée Carnot. In his great saga Les Rois Maudits (published between 1955 and 1977), Maurice Druon evoked at length the creation - on the eve of the Hundred Years' War - of the Burgundian state with Dijon as its capital. In Clarissa- his unfinished novel found in his archives in 1981 and published 9 years later - the Austrian Stefan Zweig made a Dijon high school teacher one of his characters. As did Michel Houellebecq in Les Particules élémentaires (1998). And last but not least, Hermione Granger Under the pen of J.K. Rowlings, Harry Potter's best friend told the hero (in Harry Potter, order of the Phoenix, published in 2003) about his vacations in Dijon!
Small and large salons
Everywhere in the Côte d'Or, numerous events celebrate literature. Among them is the not-to-be-missed "Livres en vignes". Every year, on the last weekend of September, around a hundred writers gather at the Château du Clos de Vougeot, near Beaune, in the heart of the vineyards. With book signings, conferences and, of course, tastings of fine wines. There's also "Clameur(s)", a series of meetings organized by Dijon librarians. Or, in mid-November, "Crocmilllivre", a children's book fair organized by booksellers Granger and Autrement dit.
