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Legends of literature

Literature and the Côte-d'Or have always been closely linked. Some illustrious names have indeed marked 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 relates several stays in the region, notably at the "old castle" and its surroundings, namely at the castle of Bourbilly, near Semur-en-Auxois. Part of her correspondence is addressed to her cousin, Roger de Bussy-Rabutin (1618-1693), who was exiled for a long time in his castle of Bussy-le-Grand. Sulphurous, the writer was a claimed libertine, which earned him several banishments from the royal court. Especially when he recounted in great detail the orgy he participated in during Holy Week. Sent back to his magnificent castle in the upper Côte-d'Or, he recreated his world there thanks to the many portraits that can be seen today when visiting the building that bears his name: portraits of men of war in the antechamber, of court ladies in the bedroom, of statesmen in the salon of the Golden Tower, of kings and dukes of Burgundy in the gallery that leads to the chapel. Bussy-Rabutin was also the contemporary of the famous Bossuet (1627-1704), well known for his funeral orations. Born in Dijon, the churchman grew up in a family of magistrates; his father was the dean of the councillors in the city's parliament. At the same time, the playwright Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (father of Crébillon fils) was also born in Dijon, in 1674. No doubt he knew another Côte d'Oran who has gone down in history: Georges-Louis Leclerc, Count of Buffon (1707-1788). Naturalist, great landowner, master of forges, architect and builder, Buffon was born in Montbard and will always remain attached to it, dividing his life between his native town and Paris where he will be appointed Intendant of the King's Garden (the future Jardin des Plantes). In Montbard, you can visit his former home, where he wrote a large part of the 36 volumes of his Natural History which influenced many naturalists, from Darwin to Lamarck. In 1745, Buffon appointed Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton (also a native of Montbard) to the title of "Guard and demonstrator of the Cabinet of Natural History". Daubenton became thefirst 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 theatre in the first part of the 20th century. A critic for several Parisian newspapers, he participated 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 to settle in 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 surrounding village squares. Totally integrated into the life of the area, the actors even took part in the 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 mythical Théâtre National Populaire (TNP). Jacques Copeau died at the Hospices de Beaune in October 1949. He is buried in the cemetery of Pernand-Vergelesses and, beside him, lies the singer and author Graeme Allwright (1926-2020), his grandson by marriage. But if there is a writer who has deeply marked the region, even revealing himself as a true ambassador of its traditions and history, it is the Dijonese Henri Vincenot (1912-1985). Written in a truculent language, his two most famous novels(La Billebaude and Le Pape des escargots) are impregnated with the Burgundian landscapes, but also with its accents. At the end of his life, he chose to settle in the village where he liked to spend his holidays, in Commarin where his grandparents lived. However, he spent his entire life rebuilding a ruined hamlet discovered by chance during a hunting trip with his grandfather (La Pourrie, in Saint-Victor-sur-Ouche). It is there, in this place that he bought, that he rests from now on.

Dijon inspires writers from all over the world

Did you know that? Dijon has often served as a setting for the greatest authors. All over the world! Let's mention for example the American Henry Miller: in Tropic of Cancer, published in 1934, he evokes Dijon (and its mustard!). It must be said that 3 years earlier, he had been a furtive English teacher at the Lycée Carnot in the city. 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 teacher in a Dijon high school one of his characters. As did Michel Houellebecq in Les Particules élémentaires (1998). Finally, how can we not mention Hermione Granger? Under the pen of J.K. Rowlings, Harry Potter's best friend told the hero (in Harry Potter, the order of the Phoenix, published in 2003) her holidays in Dijon!

Small and large salons

Everywhere in the Côte d'Or, many events are held to honour literature. Among them is the unmissable "Livres en vignes". Every year, on the last weekend of September, a hundred or so writers meet at the Château du Clos de Vougeot, near Beaune, in the heart of the vineyards. With dedications, conferences, and of course tastings of great wines. But let's also mention "Clameur(s)", a series of meetings organized by Dijon librarians. Or, in mid-November, "Crocmilllivre", a children's book fair organised by the bookshops Granger and Autrement dit.