Marcel Pagnol et l’écriture d’une Provence cosmopolite

Abstract

Marcel Pagnol seems a paradoxal choice to question the links between literature and cosmopolitism: on the contrary, this author appears to have an inward-looking outlook, adopting a national, even regional perspective. In truth, the local picture of Provence involves the definition of the Mediterranean area, which is the ultimate example of a crossroads for exchange. Therefore, Pagnol’s description of Southern France is twofold: he takes up the Latin and Hellenic imaginative worlds in a neoclassical approach without denying Arabic and Semitic influences. Blending cosmopolitism and attachment to his homeland, the writer could be described as an « open nationalist ».

Keywords

• cosmopolitism
• regionalism
• nationalism
• Latinity
• Mediterranean
• South of France