The Heritage Reading on Friday, March 24 at the Romain Gary Library will be dedicated to Joseph-Rosalinde Rancher, presented by Rémy Gasiglia, an academic and speaker. The excerpts will be read by Sylvain Casagrande, an academic and reader.
The “Heritage Readings” introduce the general public to writers. Whether from Nice or not, having written in Nice or about Nice in French, Italian, Niçoise, English, or any other language, these writers are now part of Nice’s heritage.
··· Joseph-Rosalinde Rancher (1785-1843)
Born in Nice, Joseph-Rosalinde Rancher worked for the French administration in Italy under Napoleon I, and then for the administration of his hometown during the Sardinian Restoration. A musician and poet, he was a prominent figure in the intellectual and social life of Nice. Though proficient in French, he primarily wrote in Niçoise, creating a series of satirical poems, two major heroic-comic epics, 76 “Fabla Nissardi,” and numerous other works, including occasional poetry. Well-versed in both Greco-Latin literature and popular carnival culture, he freely expressed a vibrant humor and biting irony, which sometimes led to trouble. Simultaneously, he was a realist painter of his time’s Nice and conveyed a philosophy of pacifism, compassion for the suffering, bitterness toward human vices, and fatalism. His talent and the significance of his work make Joseph-Rosalinde Rancher the father of modern Niçoise literature.
