Anatole Le Braz

Anatole Le Braz (born April 2, 1859, Duault, France—died March 20, 1926, Menton) was a French folklorist, novelist, and poet who collected and edited the legends and popular beliefs of his native province, Brittany.

Educated in Paris, Le Braz was professor of philosophy at several schools and, later, professor of French literature at the University of Rennes (1901–24). He traveled to the United States to lecture at Harvard University in 1906. One of his major works, La Légende de la mort (1893; “The Legend of the Dead”; Eng. trans., Dealings with the Dead), includes vividly poetic retellings of the legends of death—stories, traditions, and practices—Le Braz collected in Brittany. He also wrote Vieilles histoires du pays breton (1897; “Ancient Stories of Brittany”) and a study of Celtic drama, L’Essai sur l’histoire du théâtre celtique (1903; “Essay on the History of Celtic Theatre”). His other works, also based on the traditions of Brittany, include a collection of poems, La Chanson de la Bretagne (1892; “The Song of Brittany”), and several novels and stories, Le Gardien du feu (1890; “Keeper of the Fire”; Eng. trans., The Night of the Fires), Pâques d’Islande (1897; “Iceland Easter”), and Contes du soleil et de la brume (1905; “Tales of Sun and Mist”).