La Nemaïda - Jousè Rosalindo Rancher

La Nemaïda - Jousè Rosalindo Rancher

In 1823, Nice poet Joseph Rosalinde RANCHER published his seven-song heroic-comic poem "La Nemaïda: o sia lo trionf dei Sacrestan, poëma nissart". At the beginning of the 19th century, a time of ferment and tension, he signaled the revival of Occitan writing in Nice, with a remarkable awareness of the profound unity of the langue d'oc.

His "Nemaïda", now an iconic text in the literature of this period, is written in a language that is both rich and marked by the weight of diglossia.

This epic poem, in seven songs and 2,740 alexandrines, is the first text printed in modern Nicoise. Truculent and burlesque, it is inspired by a local true story: a dispute between the sacristans and churchwardens over divergent financial interests, mingled with a thwarted sentimental intrigue...

In 1923, to commemorate the poem's centenary, a fourth edition was published. To mark the occasion, the painter and poet Gustave-Adolphe MOSSA conceived and staged a stage adaptation of "La Nemaida" in which Francis GAG, aged 23, played the role of NEM. The musical also marked the revival of dialect theater.

To commemorate the second centenary of "La Nemaïda", the Georges Gibelin section of the Institut d'Études Occitanes is pleased to offer a new edition of the original text, accompanied by a transcription in classical script and a glossary to make it more accessible to all.

Editions IEO 06.