The Literature of Provence

The Literature of Provence

Author: Daniel Vitaglione

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2000-01-01

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 9780786408436

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Annexed by France in 1481, Provence still retains its own distinct culture, traditions, and language. While many primarily French authors, like Emile Zola, have dabbled in Provencal literature, this book is dedicated to those whose lives and writing careers have been devoted to this temperate and beautiful land. Included are analyses of the important literary contributions of groups or schools, like the Troubadours and the Felibres; poets like Frederic Mistral and Henri Bosco; playwrights such as Marcel Pagnol; novelists like Alphonse Daudet; and more recent writers such as Marie Mauron and Jean-Claude Izzo. Photographs of many of the authors illustrate the text, which includes English translations of extracts, so that even readers unfamiliar with the language of Provence can enjoy its literature. This introduction is ideal both for those who have enjoyed the work of the featured authors before and for those who are yet to be exposed to the charms of Provencal.


Living in Provence

Living in Provence

Author: Barbara & René Stoeltie

Publisher: Taschen

Published: 2018-11-08

Total Pages: 512

ISBN-13: 9783836572866

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Enter a land of tranquil cobbled squares, rustic earthenware, and lavender fields. In this survey of Provençal homes and interiors, discover all of the rural charm that enraptured such artists as Vincent van Gogh and Picasso. From lavish chateaus to quiet, antique retreats, this updated edition is complete with insightful captions, enthralling...


Caesar's Vast Ghost

Caesar's Vast Ghost

Author: Lawrence Durrell

Publisher: Arcade Publishing

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 9781559702478

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Before Peter Mayle there was Lawrence Durrell, who for more than 30 years made Provence his home. In this, his last book, he distills the affection and understanding of half a lifetime, describing the rich culture and giving breath to the history that still invests the land. 39 color photos.


A Pig in Provence

A Pig in Provence

Author: Georgeanne Brennan

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Published: 2012-07-27

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 1452119228

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A woman and her family give up life in 1970s America for a farmhouse in southern France in this memoir peppered with delicious French recipes. From the publisher of Under the Tuscan Sun comes another extraordinary memoir of a woman embarking on a new life—this time in the South of France. In 1970, James Beard Award–winning author Georgeanne Brennan set out to realize the dream of a peaceful, rural existence en Provence. She and her husband, with their young daughter in tow, bought a small farmhouse with a little land, and a few goats and pigs and so began a life-affirming journey. Filled with delicious recipes and local color, this evocative and passionate memoir describes her life cooking and living in the Provençal tradition. Praise for A Pig in Provence “You can almost smell the lavender as you follow Brennan’s love affair with the province that became her second home and shaped the culinary persona of this cooking teacher and food author. Brennan is a talented storyteller.” —San Francisco Chronicle “Georgeanne Brennan’s captivating memoir reminds me of why I, too, was enchanted by Provence. She beautifully captures the details of living in a place where the culture of the table ties a community together—where everyone knows the butcher and the baker, and everyone depends on the farmers.” —Alice Waters, owner, Chez Panisse “Fascinating . . . Brennan revels equally in the preparation and consumption of the regional cuisine You can almost hear her lips smacking.” —The New York Times Book Review “Georgeanne Brennan’s romance with Provence continues to deepen, and the result of her long residence there is an intimacy with local people, food, and folkways. I would love to pull up a chair to her table.” —Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun


A Year in Provence

A Year in Provence

Author: Peter Mayle

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2000-06-01

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 0141938323

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The bestselling, much-loved classic account of an English couple escaping to enjoy the fruits of French rural summer living - an irresistible feast of humour and heart. Peter Mayle and his wife did what most of us only imagine doing when they made their long-cherished dream of a life abroad a reality: throwing caution to the wind, they bought a glorious two hundred year-old farmhouse in the Lubéron Valley and began a new life. In a year that begins with a marathon lunch and continues with a host of gastronomic delights, they also survive the unexpected and often hilarious curiosities of rural life. From mastering the local accent and enduring invasion by bumbling builders, to discovering the finer points of boules and goat-racing, all the earthy pleasures of Provençal life are conjured up in this enchanting portrait. 'One of the most successful travel books of all time... Mayle created a new travel genre' Guardian 'Delightful' Washington Post 'Engaging, funny and richly appreciative' New York Times Book Review 'Stylish, witty, delightfully readable' Sunday Times 'I really loved this book' Julia Child


A Year in Provence

A Year in Provence

Author: Peter Mayle

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2010-05-19

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 0307755495

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NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In this witty and warm-hearted account, Peter Mayle tells what it is like to realize a long-cherished dream and actually move into a 200-year-old stone farmhouse in the remote country of the Lubéron with his wife and two large dogs. He endures January's frosty mistral as it comes howling down the Rhône Valley, discovers the secrets of goat racing through the middle of town, and delights in the glorious regional cuisine. A Year in Provence transports us into all the earthy pleasures of Provençal life and lets us live vicariously at a tempo governed by seasons, not by days.


The Romance of Flamenca

The Romance of Flamenca

Author: E. D. Blodgett

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-04-23

Total Pages: 506

ISBN-13: 1317775546

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Variously described as a comedy of manners, a psychological romance, and a type of fabliau, the 13th-century narrative Flamenca is the best medieval romance written in Occitan. Its uniqueness springs from qualities that anticipate the preoccupations of modern-day narrative. Not content with being a love story fraught with risk and intrigue, the poem is layered with responses to the troubadour tradition of love and poetry, as well as the Bible and the classics. Though among the most bookish of romances, its tone is invariably ironic, comic, and satirical. This playfulness may be measured by the variety and vehemence of critical response to the poem. Is it a vindication of the troubadour ideal, a mockery of the Church, a satire on jealous husbands, or an undermining of the ideals that romance is said to inscribe? Or is it all of these elements held in suspense? The introduction confronts these questions. The most recent edition and translation of Flamenca , by Hubert and Porter, is now out of print; their translation was into octosyllabic couplets that match the original. Blodgett's translation is unrhymed and line-for-line, on pages facing the edition; it adhers as closely as possible to the literal meaning of the original. The edition follows the recent text prepared by Gschwind.


Two Towns in Provence

Two Towns in Provence

Author: M.F.K. Fisher

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 1983-08-12

Total Pages: 508

ISBN-13: 0394716310

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This volume brings together two delightful books—Map of Another Town and A Considerable Town—by one of our most beloved food and travel writers. In her inimitable style, here M.F.K. Fisher tells the stories—and reveals the secrets—of two quintessential French cities. Map of Another Town, Fisher’s memoir of the French provincial capital of Aix-en-Provence is, as the author tells us, “my picture, my map, of a place and therefore of myself,” and a vibrant and perceptive profile of the kinship between a person and a place. Then, in A Considerable Town, she scans the centuries to reveal the ancient sources that clarify the Marseille of today and the indestructible nature of its people, and in so doing weaves a delightful journey filtered through the senses of a profound writer.


Rachel Cobb: Mistral

Rachel Cobb: Mistral

Author:

Publisher: Damiani Limited

Published: 2018-11-20

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 9788862086189

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Mistral is a portrait of Provence seen through its legendary wind. Photographer Rachel Cobb illustrates the effects of this relentless wind that funnels down the Rhône Valley, periodically gusting to 120 km per hour--hurricane strength on the Beaufort wind force scale. The region has, accordingly, adjusted to accommodate the mistral's impact. Some houses are built the traditional way, with few or no windows on the windward side and the main entrance on the sheltered side. Heavy stones hold down terra-cotta roof tiles. Rows of trees lining fields create windbreaks to shield crops. Cobb spent years chasing this capricious wind, challenging herself to photograph the invisible. As she became sensitive to its rhythms and effects, Cobb realized the mistral was not just a weather phenomenon; it was an integral part of the fabric of Provençal life. It was everywhere, yet always unseen. Mistral captures this invisible force of nature through its effects: a leaf caught in flight, a bride tangled in her veil, spider webs oriented to withstand the wind and grapes lashed by powerful gusts ("You can taste the wine better when the mistral blows," a Châteauneuf-du-Pape winemaker says). Writers have also tried their hand at conjuring this ungraspable phenomenon. Excerpts from writings by Paul Auster, Lawrence Durrell, Jean Giono and Frédéric Mistral are included in this volume, a luminous evocation of nature's unseen power.


Occupation Journal

Occupation Journal

Author: Jean Giono

Publisher: Archipelago

Published: 2020-04-21

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 1939810574

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A captivating literary and historical record, Jean Giono's Occupation Journal offers a glimpse into life in collaborationist France during the Second World War, as seen through the eyes and thoughts of one of France's greatest and most independent writers. Written during the years of France's occupation by the Nazis, Jean Giono's Occupation Journal reveals the inner workings of one of France's great literary minds during one of the country's darkest hours. A renowned writer and committed pacifist throughout the 1930s--a conviction that resulted in his imprisonment before and after the Occupation--Giono spent the war in the village of Contadour in Provence, where he wrote, corresponded with other writers, and cared for his consumptive daughter. This journal records his musings on art and literature, his observations of life, his interactions with the machinery of the collaborationist Vichy regime, as well as his forceful political convictions. Giono recounts the details of his life with fierce independence of thought and novelistic attention to character and dialogue. Occupation Journal is a fascinating historical document as well as a unique window into one of French literature's most voracious and critical minds.