A Fr. literary association founded in 1854 by seven Occitan poets who called themselves félibres , perhaps meaning “nursling,” as Frédéric Mistral explained, because they intended to nurse at the bosom of wisdom. Through the annual publication of the Armana prouvençau (Provençal Almanac) the group strove to reform Occitan spelling, to renew the lang., to compose great poetry, and to revive Occitan culture. Joseph Roumanille first organized the movement, which triumphed with the publication in 1859 of Mistral’s romantic epic Mirèio (Mireille), and again in 1860 with Théodore Aubanel’s collection of love poems, La Mióugrano entre-duberto (The Split Pomegranate). Originally limited in intention to Provence in the narrow sense (east of the Rhône),ƒ. was reorganized in 1876 to include all the Occitan dialects and regions. Perhaps its most lasting achievement was the impetus it gave to dialect lit. in France.— L’Anthologie du ƒ. ed. A. Praviel and J.-R. de Brousse (1909); E. Ripert, (1948); C. Camproux, Hist. de la littérature occitane (1953); Morceaux choisis des auteurs provençaux de la fondation du ƒ. à nos jours , ed. L. Bayle, 2 v. (1969-71); R. Lafont and C. Anatole, Nouvelle Hist. de la litt. occitane , 2 v. (1970).
User Comments Add a comment…