Restoring the Feminine to Occitan Literature: Four Woman Poets and their Tradition

This project is the second part of a larger project meant to contribute to the existing scholarship on Occitan women writers. The term "Occitan" refers to a number of dialects traditionally spoken in southern France. Often treated as a low-status patois, Occitan is today an endangered language. Paradoxically its literature is flourishing, although for the most part it is not well-known. Focusing on research in women`s studies and minority discourse, the first part of the project provided a general approach to the topic. The second part will refine the analysis and focus on a detailed study of Occitan scholarship. My primary sources are texts by Claude Duclos-Requier / Philadelphe de Gerde (1871-1952), Julienne Fraysse-Seguret / Calelhon (1892-1981), Jeanne Barthes / Clardeluno (1898-1972), and Henriette Dibon / Farfantello (1902-1989). These women are unknown to the general public, yet they played an active role in the Felibrige, a cultural association promoting Occitan, and wrote literature which is of significant academic interest. Referring primarily to linguistic, sociological and literary research in the Occitan field, my work will include: a) the analysis of Frederic Mistral`s representation of women in his poetic works. Mistral (1830-1914) was the most influential figure of the Felibrige, and his descriptions of women inspired generations of Occitan poets; b) a survey of Occitan literature written by writers who were close to these four women: Marius Andre, Justin Bessou, Joseph d`Arbaud. I intend to compare various aspects from the perspective of gender; c) a study of theoretical contributions in Occitan studies, particularly those of Philippe Gardy, Georg Kremnitz, and Robert Lafont, the goal of which is to provide for a better assessment of these women`s position in Occitan literature: I will examine the extent to which the work of these women reflects or contradicts theoretical issues of interest to Occitan research; and d) within this framework, an analysis of these women`s literary production. My research is primarily twofold: a) to highlight gender-related themes in Occitan literary history and observe their recurrence in Occitan literature, and b) to situate the work of these women in the Occitan tradition. Occitan scholarship has produced challenging criticism on such issues as tradition and innovation, identity formation, cultural exchanges and conflicts, and linguistic issues. I intend to emphasize the gendered component in these debates, since I believe that such investigation is of interest for current research in Romance languages, minority discourse, language politics, literary theory, and European history.