Rabelais - culture & history

Famous writers in Languedoc Roussillon

South of France

Many writers have left their mark on the region ; from Antiquity onwards, the Greek historians Strabon and Polybe, followed by Languedocien and Catalan writers, each has affirmed their originality ; Rabelais and Molière, too, exercised their talents here. In 1662, Jean Racine, sent to his uncle’s in Uzès, discovered the Mediterranean skies that prompted him to write the famous verse "And our nights are more beautiful than you days".

Paul Valéry, born in Sète in 1871, began writing literature in the symbolism period, as a disciple of Mallarmé and a friend of Gide. The famous Spanish poet Antonio Machado lived in Collioure and is buried in the town cemetery. More recently, André Chamson and Jean-Pierre Chabrol were able to write eloquently of the atmosphere and the life of the Cevenol valleys. Claude Simon was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1985, and Jean Rouaud the Goncourt Prize in 1990. Other contemporary writers were born in the region, such as Frédérique Hébrard (Hérault), Marie Rouanet (Hérault), Malika Mokeddem (Hérault), Jean Carrière (Gard)...