Rue Frédéric Mistral

Nobel Prize for Literature in 1904, Frédéric Mistral was a French writer and lexicographer, a native of Bouches-du-Rhône and famous for his works written in the Provencal language. He also founded the association Félibrige, in order to promote and safeguard the langue d'oc, its culture and identity. Frédér Mistral was born in September 1830 to a wealthy family in Maillane, in southern France. After several years of boarding school, he passed his baccalaureate at Nîmes and began studying law. Very impressed by the 1848 Revolution, which marked the proclamation of the second public revolution, the young man made Lamartine his hero. It was during this year 1848 that he wrote his first poem, Les Moissons.

After his degree, during which he learned the history of Provence, he began to campaign for its independence and for the maintenance of the Provencal language. He thus composed numerous works, in the langue d'oc Mirèio is his most important and will take him eight years of his life. This long poem that tells the love story between Mireille and Vincent was awarded a Nobel Prize. It was also adapted to film by Ren&eacuteau in 1933. The poet also devoted himself during his years to his association Félibrige and wrote Lou Tresor dou Felibrige, a dictionary of the langue d'oc. He died in 1914 in Maillane, his birthplace. His house was transformed into a museum. His friend Alphonse Daudet will dedicate one of his Lettres de mon moulin, Le Poète Mistral.