Bernat Manciet (; 27 September 1923,
Sabres, Landes
Sabres () is a commune in the Landes department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Landes department
*Parc naturel régional des Landes de Gascogne
Landes de Gascogne Regional Natural Park ...
, France – 3 June 2005,
Mont-de-Marsan
Mont-de-Marsan (; Occitan: ''Lo Mont de Marçan'') is a commune and capital of the Landes department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France.
Population
Military installations
The French Air and Space Force operates the '' Constantin Roza ...
) was a famous
Occitan Occitan may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain.
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France.
* Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...
author.
Biography
Manciet attended school first in his native Sabres and then spent three years in the ''
lycée'' of
Talence
Talence (, ; oc, Talança, ; ca, Talença, ) is a commune in the Gironde department, administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.
It is the third-largest suburb of the city of Bordeaux, and is adjacent to it on the south side. It is ...
where he lived at his uncles', who were priests. They taught him
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
and
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
. He went on to sit his ''
baccalauréat'' in
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
on a Sunday of June, 1940. His education provided him with an incredible erudition that transpired from his every phrase. As
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
broke out, Manciet started studying literature and political sciences.
This is how he became a
diplomat with
Marie-Pierre Kœnig
Marie Joseph Pierre François Kœnig or Koenig (10 October 1898 – 2 September 1970) was a French general during World War II during which he commanded a Free French Brigade at the Battle of Bir Hakeim in North Africa in 1942. He started a pol ...
, who was a high commissioner in Germany at a time when the defeated nation was trying to rebuild itself. He also took part in the
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II.
Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany invaded m ...
. In 1955, his diplomatic career led him to such places as
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and
Montevideo in
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
, from where his acute geopolitical skills probably sprang. Back in the Landes, he wed, fathered five children and ran his step-family's company, only for it to go bankrupt after ten years.
Bernat Manciet managed ''Òc'' magazine but always refused to side with such Occitan activists as
Robèrt Lafont and
Max Roqueta Max Roqueta ( Argelliers, December 8, 1908 – June 22, 2005) was one of the most famous contemporary Occitan writers. A physician, he was also an activist (he had been president of the Institut d'Estudis Occitans The Institut d'Estudis Occitans (E ...
, with whom he nonetheless was quite friendly.
Literary career
A poet, a novelist, a playwright, an
essay
An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...
ist, a literary review director, an artist... Bernat Manciet also came on stage to recite his poems and even took part in shows alongside Bernard Lubat in Uzeste.
In 1972 already,
Renat Nelli Renat Nelli (), who was born in Carcassonne, Aude in 1906 and died in 1982, was one of the major Occitan writers of the 20th century.
In Vichy France, Nelli joined the French Resistance and in 1945 was one of the co-founders of the Institut d'Es ...
wrote about Manciet in a bilingual collection of poems called ''La Poésie occitane'' (published by Seghers):
:"One won't have long to wait before an overall study of Manciet's work is made. Maybe it will help understand better this giant of originality, whose unremitting literary renewal and lyrical intimate spring have no cause to be jealous of the latest Parisian trends. With
René Char and
Salvatore Quasimodo
Salvatore Quasimodo (; August 20, 1901 – June 14, 1968) was an Italian poet and translator. In 1959, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own time ...
, Bernat Manciet is undoubtedly one of the great and underrated poets of modern Europe."
Bibliography
* ''Le Triangle des Landes'' (1981)
* ''L'Enterrament a Sabres'' (1996)
* ''Accidents'' (1955)
* ''Le Jeune homme de novembre'' / ''Lo Gojat de noveme'' (1995)
* ''Les Émigrants'' or ''Iphigénie devant la gare'' (1999)
* ''Cobalt'' (2002)
* ''De nouveau Cordoue'' / ''Cordoa enqüèra'' (2004)
* ''Casaus perduts'' (2005)
* ''Jardins perdus'' (2005)
* ''Les Murmures du mal'' (2006)
* ''Lo Brèc'' (2006)
External links
On Poezibao(in French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manciet, Bernat
1923 births
2005 deaths
People from Landes (department)
Occitan-language writers
Winners of the Prix Broquette-Gonin (literature)
20th-century French poets