Profession: linguistic crusader

Mistral, more than anyone, is responsible for the revival of Occitan (and its dialect Provençale) as a literary language. Roumanille, initially his school-teacher, became his colleague and effectively his disciple: their meeting catalysed their lives’ work. Lamartine, shown the manuscript of his poem ‘Mireio’ on the first of his two visits to Paris, enthusiastically promoted it. Daudet, a great friend, corresponded for nearly 40 years, and based a story on Mistral’s cousin’s suicide. Mallarmé, Gounod (researching his opera based on ‘Mireio’) and Cody all came to visit, Cody giving him his dog as a present.