Dupuy, Lionel

Geographical Imagination and Poetic Chronotope: Mirèio by Frédéric Mistral (1859) - 2016.


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In this article, we aim at emphasising and analysing the prominent role played by geography in elaborating and structuring the long poem by Frédéric Mistral written in the Provençal language, Mirèio ( Mireille, 1859), as exemplified at the imaginary, mythical and symbolic level. Following in the wake of Marc Brosseau’s analysis in his essay Des romans-géographes, we will also show how in this poem, which organizes its own geography, two poetic chronotopes can be identified, and how they evoke the development and transformation of the scheme of descent into a scheme of fall.