Frédéric Mistral (1830 - 1914) was a French poet and lexicographer who wrote in Provençal and led the nineteenth-century revival of Occitan literature. [1] He founded the literary association Le Félibrige, compiled the great dictionary Lou Tresor dóu Felibrige, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1904, shared with the Spanish dramatist José Echegaray. [2] His epic Mirèio is regarded as the central work of modern Provençal literature.
Early life and education
Frédéric Mistral was born on 8 September 1830 in Maillane, in the Bouches-du-Rhône département of Provence, into a family of prosperous farmers. [1] He grew up speaking Provençal on the family estate, an experience that shaped his lifelong conviction that the language and rural culture of the Midi were worth defending.
He was schooled in Avignon, where his teacher Joseph Roumanille introduced him to the idea of writing seriously in Provençal, and then studied law at Aix-en-Provence, qualifying in 1851. He declined a legal career and returned to Maillane to devote himself to literature. [3]
Le Félibrige
In 1854, with Roumanille and five other young writers, Mistral founded Le Félibrige at Font-Ségugne, an association dedicated to restoring the literary standing of Provençal and to establishing a consistent orthography for it. [1] The movement published an annual almanac, organised competitions and gatherings, and extended its influence across the Occitan-speaking south of France.
Major works
Mistral's epic poem Mirèio, published in 1859 after eight years of work, tells in twelve cantos the story of a young Provençal woman whose love for a poor basket-maker is opposed by her family. [2] Written in Provençal with a facing French translation, it was praised by Alphonse de Lamartine and brought Mistral immediate national recognition. Charles Gounod based his opera Mireille on it in 1864.
Further verse followed, including the epics Calendau and Nerto, the lyric collection Lis Isclo d'Or, the tragedy La Rèino Jano and the late poem Lou Pouèmo dóu Rose, on the boatmen of the Rhône. [3] He also wrote the memoir Moun Espelido.
His most demanding scholarly undertaking was Lou Tresor dóu Felibrige, a dictionary of the Occitan language published between 1878 and 1886, which documents dialects, proverbs, customs and etymologies across the Midi and remains a standard reference. [1]
Nobel Prize and later years
Mistral received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1904, cited for the originality and inspiration of his poetry and for his work as a Provençal philologist. [2] He used the prize money to found the Museon Arlaten in Arles, an ethnographic museum of Provençal life, dress and material culture, which opened in 1899 and was expanded with the award.
He remained in Maillane, where he died on 25 March 1914, and was buried in a tomb he had designed himself, modelled on a Provençal pavilion. [1]
Legacy
Mistral is credited with giving modern Occitan literature its foundational works and institutions, and the Félibrige continues to exist. [3] The name Mistral is carried by streets, schools and the University of Aix-Marseille's Provençal studies, and his dictionary and poetry remain the reference points for the language's literary tradition.
