Editing Provence (section)

=== Literature ===
{{main|Occitan language|Occitan literature}}

[[File:Raimbaut de Vaqueiras.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Raimbaut de Vaqueiras]], from a collection of [[troubadour]] songs, ''BNF Richelieu Manuscrits Français 854'', ''Bibliothèque Nationale Française'', Paris]]
Historically, the language spoken in Provence was [[Provençal dialect|Provençal]], a dialect of the [[Occitan language]], also known as langue d'oc, and closely related to [[Catalan language|Catalan]]. There are several regional variations: [[vivaro-alpin]], spoken in the Alps, and the Provençal variations of south, including the maritime, the rhoadanien (in the Rhône Valley) and the [[Niçois]] (in Nice). Niçois is the archaic form of Provençal closest to the original language of the [[troubadour]]s, and is sometimes to said to be literary language of its own.<ref>from the article "Provence" in the French-language Wikipedia.</ref>

Provençal was widely spoken in Provence until the beginning of the 20th century, when the French government launched an intensive and largely successful effort to replace regional languages with French. Today, Provençal is taught in schools and universities in the region, but is spoken regularly by a small number of people, probably less than 500,000, mostly elderly.

;Writers and poets in the Occitan language
[[File:Folquet de Marseilla.jpg|thumb|upright|"Folquet de Marselha" in a 13th-century [[chansonnier]]. Depicted in his episcopal robes.]]
The golden age of [[Provençal literature]], more correctly called [[Occitan literature]], was the 11th century and the 12th century, when the troubadours broke away from classical [[Latin literature]] and composed romances and love songs in their own vernacular language. Among the most famous troubadours was [[Folquet de Marselha]], whose love songs became famous all over Europe, and who was praised by [[Dante]] in his ''[[Divine Comedy]]''. In his later years, Folquet gave up poetry to become the Abbot of [[Thoronet Abbey]], and then [[Bishop of Toulouse]], where he fiercely persecuted the [[Cathars]].

In the middle of the 19th century, there was a literary movement to revive the language, called the [[Félibrige]], led by the poet [[Frédéric Mistral]] (1830–1914), who shared the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1904.

Provençal writers and poets who wrote in Occitan include:
* [[Raimbaut de Vaqueiras]] (1180–1207)
* [[Louis Bellaud]] (1543–1588)
* [[Théodore Aubanel]] (1829–1886)
* [[Joseph d'Arbaud]] (1874–1950)
* [[Robert Lafont]] (1923–2009)

;French authors
[[File:Alphonse Daudet.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Alphonse Daudet]]]]
[[File:SidonieGabrielleColette.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Colette]]]]
* [[Alphonse Daudet]] (1840–1897) was the best-known French writer from Provence in the 19th century, though he lived mostly in Paris and [[Champrosay]]. He was best known for his ''[[Letters from My Windmill|Lettres de mon moulin]]'' (Letters from My Windmill) (1869) and the [[Tartarin|Tartarin of Tarascon]] trilogy (1872, 1885, 1890). His short story ''[[L'Arlésienne (novel and play)|L'Arlésienne]]'' (1872) was made into a three-act play with [[L'Arlésienne (Bizet)|incidental music]] by [[Georges Bizet]].<ref>''Atlantic Brief Lives, A Biographical Companion to the Arts'', pg. 204, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1971.</ref>
* [[Marcel Pagnol]] (1895–1970), born in Aubagne, is known both as a filmmaker and for his stories of his childhood, ''Le Château de la Mere'', ''La Gloire de mon Pere'', and ''Le Temps des secrets''. He was the first filmmaker to become a member of the {{Lang|fr|[[Académie Française]]|italic=no}} in 1946.
* [[Colette]] (Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette) (1873–1954), although she was not from Provence, became particularly attached to [[Saint-Tropez]]. After World War II, she headed a committee which saw that the village, badly damaged by the war, was restored to its original beauty and character
* [[Jean Giono]] (1895–1970), born in [[Manosque]], wrote about peasant life in Provence, inspired by his imagination and by his vision of ancient Greece.
* [[Paul Arène]] (1843–1896), born in [[Sisteron]], wrote about life and the countryside around his home town.

;Émigrés, exiles, and expatriates

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the climate and lifestyle of Provence attracted writers almost as much as it attracted painters. It was particularly popular among British, American and Russian writers in the 1920s and 1930s.
* [[Edith Wharton]] (1862–1937), bought [[Castel Sainte-Claire]] in 1927, on the site of a former convent in the hills above [[Hyères]], where she lived during the winters and springs until her death in 1937.
* [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]] (1896–1940) and his wife Zelda first visited the Riviera in 1924, stopping at [[Hyères]], [[Cannes]] and [[Monte Carlo]], eventually staying at [[Saint-Raphaël, Var|St. Raphaël]], where he wrote much of ''The Great Gatsby'' and began ''Tender is the Night''.
* [[Ivan Bunin]] (1870–1953), the first Russian writer to win the [[Nobel Prize for Literature]], went to France after the Russian Revolution, set several of his short stories on the [[French Riviera|Côte d'Azur]], and had a house in [[Grasse]].
* [[Somerset Maugham]] (1874–1965) bought a house, the Villa Mauresque, in [[Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat]] in 1928, and, except for the years of World War II, spent much of his time there until his death.

Other English-speaking writers who live in or have written about Provence include:
* [[Peter Mayle]]
* [[Carol Drinkwater]]
* [[John Lanchester]]
* [[Willa Cather]]
* [[Charles Spurgeon]] (who spent long periods in [[Menton]])
* [[Katherine Mansfield]]
* [[Lawrence Durrell]]

;Scientists, scholars and prophets
* [[Pytheas]] (4th century BCE) was a geographer and mathematician who lived in the Greek colony of Massalia, now Marseille. He conducted an expedition by sea north around Great Britain to Iceland, and was the first to describe the midnight sun and polar regions.
* [[Petrarch]] (1304–1374) was an Italian poet and scholar, considered the father of [[humanism]] and one of the first great figures of [[Italian literature]]. He spent much of his early life in [[Avignon]] and [[Carpentras]] as an official at the Papal court in Avignon, and wrote a famous account of his ascent of [[Mount Ventoux]] near [[Aix-en-Provence]].
* [[Nostradamus]] (1503–1566), a Renaissance apothecary and reputed [[clairvoyant]] best known for his alleged prophecies of great world events, was born in [[Saint-Remy-de-Provence]] and lived and died in [[Salon-de-Provence]].