Landscape in 'Mireio' by Frederic Mistral

Frederic Mistral's 1859 Mireio, describing life in Provence, contains a num ber of landscape descriptions, the study of which allows the reader to perc eive its ideological undercurrents. Through textual analysis and references to various definitions of allegory as well as through a reflection on the response of Occitan readers (as compared to French readers), a political me aning appears. However, even though at times a political discourse may be d etected, it never asserts itself. The ideological scope is instead consiste ntly obscured and minimized. The landscapes in Mireio share an esthetic str ategy more than an ideological one.