Max Jacob and the people from Quimper

Max Jacob and the people from Quimper - An ambivalent relationship

Max Jacob’s opinion about the people of Quimper

Jacob has given an important role to Quimper throughout his work. He has often alluded to pieces of gossip which concerned the town and has caricatured a lot of characters belonging to Quimper’s middle-class.

M. de LA TREMBLAYE Mme de LA CHAFRIE	He often criticized its inhabitants but remained indulgent towards them. By way of proof in 1936‚ he dedicated a preface to the children of Quimper and he continued giving his work to Mr Gallo, the librarian of Quimper. Yet the poet accused his town of being ungrateful and ignorant‚ but in spite of that, the inhabitants of Quimper never hated him and Max Jacob always loved them.	M. GOIN COTTE GRELU

What the people of Quimper thought about Max Jacob

Max Jacob wasn’t totally on good terms with Quimper. At least, the leading citizens didn’t really estimate him. In 1923, he published a book which shocked the people of Quimper : Le Terrain Bouchaballe.

Max Jacob himself recognized that the inhabitants should not know that book. It was outrageous for them because of the gossip it related.

In fact, most of them knew what Max Jacob referred to in Le Terrain Bouchaballe. The poet however went on praising his birthtown : Quimper, a beautiful town, twenty thousands souls.

The leading citizens and the mayor Théodore Le Hars didn’t enjoy being caricatured in this novel.

Because of Le Terrain Bouchaballe, Max Jacob’s work was ignored by most inhabitants of Quimper.

The encounter between Max Jacob and Per Jakez Hélias

Max Jacob was a regular customer of l’Épée, a posh place in the city centre. In 1935, Max Jacob and Per Jakez Hélias sometimes met in this bar, and had a quick talk over a drink.

Per Jakès Hélias	But the poet was interested in the future writer because he knew that Jakez Hélias was a fine connaisseur of the Breton Language. He was just a student at the college La Tour d’Auvergne when the headmaster punished him after he had been seen several times in the poet’s company. Max Jacob was thought to be a dangerous character !

His work and the people of Quimper

The inhabitants of Quimper have always been interested in Max Jacob’s work. Newspapers informed them of Max’s sayings and doings and the articles were often laudatory.

Max Jacob by Pierre de Belay	The inhabitants however did not like Les Gwers, which had been written before the poems of Morven le Gaélique, and the painting Vieilles maisons à Paris was never successful. Max Jacob’s close companions, Pierre Allier and René Villard, have popularised his work through their articles and their lectures. It was only after Max Jacob’s death that his work began to be fully appreciated.