Memoirs of Mistral

MEMOIRS OF MISTRAL

RENDERED INTO ENGLISH BY CONSTANCE ELISABETH MAUD
Ich singe wie der Vogel singt Der in den Zweigen wohnet Das Lied, das aus der Kehle dringt Ist Lohn, der reichlich lohnet. Goethe.
TO MY FRIEND THÉRÈSE ROUMANILLE (MADAME BOISSIÈRE) I DEDICATE THIS ENGLISH RENDERING OF MISTRAL’S MEMOIRS AND TALES, WHICH WITHOUT HER KINDLY ASSISTANCE I SHOULD NOT HAVE UNDERTAKEN, FOR TO HER I OWE ALL I KNOW OF THE LITERARY AND PATRIOTIC WORK OF THE FÉLIBRES AND OF THE REAL LIFE OF PROVENCE
It was one lovely day in early spring two years ago that, on the occasion of a visit to the great poet of Provence, I first heard of these Memories of his youth.
Mistral had been for many years collecting and editing material for this volume, and was at the moment just completing a French translation from the Provençal original, which he laughingly assured us he was glad we had interrupted, since he found it un travail brute .
The enthusiastic reception accorded to this French edition, not only in Paris but throughout the reading world of France, encourages me to think that perhaps in England, also, considering the increased interest caused by the entente cordiale in all things concerning France, an English translation of this unique description of Provençal country life sixty years ago may be welcome; and in America too, where the name and life-work of Mistral have always been better known than in England.
The fact that Mistral and his great collaborators in the Félibre movement, Roumanille, Aubanel, Félix Gras, Anselme Mathieu and others, wrote entirely in the language of their beloved Provence, no doubt accounts for their works being so little known outside their own country, though latterly the name of Mistral has been brought prominently forward by his election as a recipient last year of the Nobel Prize for patriotic literature, and also by his refusal to accept a Chair among the Olympians of the French Academy. In spite of his rejection of the latter honour, which was a matter of principle, he could scarcely fail to have been gratified by the compliment paid in offering to him what is never offered without being first solicited, the would-be member being obliged to present himself for election and also to endeavour personally to win the support of each of the sacred Forty.