ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates dozens of personal letters addressed to Frédéric Mistral (1830–1914), the most prominent leader of the Occitan movement, from the late 1860s through 1886. It sheds light on the construction of a distinct Occitan ‘groupness’ and on the emotional and personal dimensions of region- and nation-building. Praised by its proponents for its noble, antique past which can be traced back to the medieval troubadours, but taunted by its opponents as a ‘patois’, Occitan was never able to shed its status as a ‘minor’ language. Nevertheless it developed a highly emotional appeal for its supporters and established strong ties of individual belonging. In this respect Niedhammer problematizes the emotional interstices between nationhood, ethnicity and regionalism.
