“Ah! if only they really knew how to hear me! Oh! if only they wanted to follow me!”

Mistral (1830-1914)
Writer, founding member of Félibrige, member of the Academy of Marseille, maître ès-jeux of the Académie des Jeux floraux de Toulouse

“Among the most precious memories of my youth, I will always be attached to those connected with the emotions awakened in me upon discovering the grand mistralien poetry. (…) In my mind’s eye, I have always before me the little bookseller of Arles where once upon a time I bought Poème du Rhône, and which I devoured in one sitting. […] What a strike of lighting!… From that day forward I looked upon Provence as a chosen land, a land inhabited by poetry […] How many times shall I repeat the beautiful, full, harmonious lines of Lionel des Rieux: “Under the roof of Maillane, Homer still lives…” Maillane’s Homer is no longer. (…) Yet, with him dead, there are, for an entire generation, memories which recede, faces which are darkened, flowers dried between pages which have no date, the star of youth which goes out. Henceforth, it has become a legend, this poetic kingdom of Provence which Mistral governed. We cannot dream of going back to re-bathe ourselves in its clarity… And when, in the back of our minds, we come upon a memory full of warmth and joy, perhaps one day, in order to explain it, these words will come to us: “It was when Mistral was still alive…”

20th century Author
Writer