Ville de Beaugency

[ See other contemporary French postcards from the same and other series as infra ]

Ir is evident from postcards in the Hans Jahnke Collection of the James Joyce Foundation [shown here] that the Joyce’s visited Beaugency at least twice - once in August 1937 and again in July 1937. The letter to Stephen Joyce (age 4) which Joyce sent from that town was written on the first occasion (10 Aug.) and fully a week after his arrival - during which interval he had plenty of time to absorb the history and the legends of the place. It is possible to speculate that any tourist guidebook he may have read stood in direct line of ascent from the text now placed on the Loire en Ligne website which adds his name to the more archaic details of the town and its associations - as follows.

—Photo by Patrick Giraud.

Available at Ligerian Christian - online; accessed 19.04.2013.

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The Pavé Balgentien
Le «Pavé Balgentien», une spécialité gourmande de Beaugency, autrement appelé «le gâteau de voyage» est composé de chocolat, fruits confits et de grand-marnier. Nous ne connaissions pas cette spécialité, c’est délicieux.
—Marceline News [online].
See also ...
Les «Chatons de Beaugency»: dans une boîte illustrant la fameuse «Légende du Chat de Beaugency, des bonbons feuilletés pralinés, enrobés d’une fine couche de caramel.
—Thémaguide > Beaugency [online].

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The Châtaigne of the Loire

This nut on which the wealth of the region was historically founded is said the original of the “chats de Beaugency” - the nick-name by which the people are known - and which migrated to the legend that Joyce retells. The people of the region were, in other words, nutters! There town, however, derives its name from the Latin form of the original, given in Latin records as Balgentios - hence Balgentiens. See http://ligerien.christian.pagesperso-orange.fr/LA LEGENDE DU PONT DE BEAUGENCY.htm.)

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Postcards

Contemporary Postcards of Beaugency

The images show here are from pages of “The Cat of Beaugency” given by Bruce Stewart at the IASIL Conference in Cork in August 2016 [as attached].