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RENÉ GALAND THE HISTORY OF A CALLING MEVEN MORDIERN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL WRITINGS [NOTE : chapters of this monograph have appeared in the following publications: Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium , vol. V (1988), pp. 172-186; Bretagne et pays celtiques (Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 1992), pp.497-510 ; Al Liamm , niv. 288 (1995), pp. 38-51 ; Al Liamm , niv. 294 (1996), pp. 22-49 ; Al Liamm , niv. 296-297 (1996), pp. 243-263 ; Al Liamm , niv. 298 (1996), pp. 360-381 ; Al Liamm , niv. 300 (1997), pp. 59-78 ; Al Liamm , niv. 301 (1997), pp. 162- 190. The chapters published in the Breton literary journal Al Liamm have appeared under the Breton form of my name, Reun ar C’halan ] 4 CHAPTER ONE MEVEN MORDIERN'S UNPUBLISHED MEMOIRS Meven Mordiern is recognized today as one of the foremost authors in the history of Breton literature. In many ways, he is quite exceptional. He was not a native speaker of Breton. He was not born in Brittany. He did not even have Breton parents. His real name was René Leroux, and he was born in Bordeaux, in 1878, the son of an army doctor. He later studied at the Lycée Condorcet, in Paris. In his childhood, however, he became passionately interested in the history and the culture of the Celts, to such an extent that he devoted his entire life to their study, eventually adopting the Breton name Meven Mordiern. His published works fully justify his preeminent place in the history of Breton literature (Yann Bouëssel du Bourg et Yann Brekilien, "La littérature bretonne", in La Bretagne , Yann Brekilien, ed.[Paris: Les Editions d'Organisation, 1982], pp.
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