Famous writers and poets
Paul Valéry (1871-1945). Born in Sète to a Corsican father and Genoese mother, Paul Valéry was a great writer, poet and philosopher. After completing his studies in Paris, and influenced by Mallarmé, he devoted himself to political, scientific, economic and architectural reflection. The success of Cimetière marin turned his attention definitively to poetry and the arts. Elected to the Académie française in 1925, then appointed professor at the Collège de France, he remained faithful to his native town, which he himself renamed "Île singulière". He is now buried in the marine cemetery.
Yves Rouquette (1936-2015). This poet from Sète, author of some forty books (novels, short stories and plays) and journalist, is a perfect representative of today's Occitan literature.
Maurice Clavel (1920-1979). Maurice Clavel, born in Frontignan, was a man of integrity and passion, and used to say that "Dieu est Dieu, nom de Dieu" ("God is God, God's name"). A professor of philosophy, in the 1950s he contributed to the newspaper Combat, then to the Nouvel Observateur. Initially a Gaullist, he distanced himself from the Ben Barka affair and became a prophet of protest after May 1968, when he left the teaching profession. He worked alongside Jean-Paul Sartre at the creation of Libération, and became famous during a debate with Jean Royer, when he left the set live after uttering his famous "Messieurs les censeurs, bonsoir".
The language of Oc
In Hérault and the Thau Archipelago, some people still speak Occitan, or langue d'oc. Long described as a patois compared to official French, this language is also descended from Latin, formed by the arrival of the Romans and mixing with existing local languages. Its roots run deep in the history of southern Europe. After the Franks settled throughout the northern half of Gaul, the language spoken by all, Gallo-Romance, evolved into a multitude of dialects, broadly grouped into northern and southern dialects. Curiously, these dialects were named after the way people said yes. In the north, people said "o-il" and in the south "oc", thus giving rise to the langue d'oïl and the langue d'oc. In the Middle Ages, the langue d'oc established itself as a major culture. It was the language of courtly love, refined mores and culture. The troubadours sang it from northern Italy to the Pyrenees, before it became the language of the Cathar heresy, fought as fiercely as its speakers during the crusade against the Albigensians. Preserved only for domestic use, it was revived in the 19th and 20th centuries in a movement parallel to that of the Félibrige movement in Provence.
Sung by great writers such as Ferdinand Fabre in the 19th century, then Paul Valéry, Joseph Delteil, André Chansom, Jean-Pierre Chabrol and Max Rouquette, it is once again being studied and used in certain schools (the Calandretas), and today has its own fervent defenders to ensure it doesn't fall into oblivion.
