Background

Born to a long line of passionate defenders of Provence in southern France, Mistral retained his devotion to his homeland even while nations rose and France, the French language, and Parisian culture overwhelmed the pastoral south. Though he often ran away from school in his childhood, he found a love of learning and especially his local language. Eventually his commitment to writing in and raising awareness of the Provencal dialect earned this award from the Swedish Academy: “in recognition of the fresh originality and true inspiration of his poetic production, which faithfully reflects the natural scenery and native spirit of his people, and, in addition, his significant work as a Provençal philologist”

Works

Mistral’s poetry is fairly wide ranging, but the most recognized works are some long form narrative poems. In that spirit I read his most widely known work Mireio. It tells the story of a simple young love story in pastoral Provence, but also manages to weave in harvest song, murders, sea monsters, and family strife. Naturally, it was made into an Opera.

“We’d climb the turret-stair, my prince and I,
And gladly throw the crown and mantle by,
And would it not be blissful with my love,
Aloft, alone to sit, the world above?
Or leaned upon the parapet by his side,
To search the lovely landscape far and wide,

“Our own glad kingdom of Provence descrying,
Like some great orange-grove beneath us lying
All fair? And, ever stretching dreamily
Beyond the hills and plains, the sapphire sea;
While noble ships, tricked out with streamers gay,
Just graze the Chateau d’If, and pass away?”

From Canto III of Mistral’s Mireio

Message

Mistral seems bound and determined to challenge the assumptions of the powerful. Parents want to control their kids, but the kids might be right. The Parisian upper crust might sneer and the peasant folk, but the peasant folk have as much poetry and artistry as the hoity toity. Also, Provence is great…but that’s less a literary theme and more just his personal mantra.

Position: #2 Right Back

Granted, as our first French writer honored, I may be leaning on my adoration of the Grenoble defense and their stalwart ways, but Mistral also seems to have a truly daring instinct, a flair for the dramatic and the dangerous. At times it makes his return to more standard romantic fare deeply disappointing. In that way I kept picturing him running head long down the sideline twisting up defenders and playing gorgeous passes, only to suddenly remember he also had to defend and being forced to haul buns back to defense. Maybe there’s some deep running connection to Mathys Tourraine I don’t yet know about.

Mistral might be my new favorite discovery of this project. I’d go so far as to say I’d rather cover Mireo than Romeo and Juliet with students, and I’d rather have the chaotic joy of Mistral on the wing than sturdy solidity in defense. Am I nuts? Hit up the comment section below and state your case.

Next Time, the Nobel couldn’t make up their mind so we’ll do this again with the other 1904 Honoree–Jose Echegaray