Armand Lunel - Biography

Armand Lunel (9 June 1892 – 3 November 1977) was a French writer and the last known speaker of Shuadit (Judeo-Provençal), a now-extinct Occitan language. He was a childhood friend of Darius Milhaud, and wrote the librettos of Milhaud's operas Esther de Carpentras ("Esther of Carpentras," 1938, based on Shuadit folklore) and Les malheurs d’Orphée ("The Misfortunes of Orpheus," 1924).

Biography

Lunel was born in Aix-en-Provence, France, to a family that belonged to a Jewish subculture that had roots in the area for at least five centuries. After coming of age in the region, Lunel taught law and philosophy in Monaco. Lunel wrote extensively about the Jews of Provence.

He married Rachel Suzanne Messiah, a daughter of architect Aron Messiah in 1920.

Most of the current knowledge about Lunel was collected by his son-in-law: Georges Jessula

Bibliography

• L'Imagerie du cordier, La Nouvelle Revue Française, Paris, 1924.
• Nicolo-Peccavi ou L'affaire Dreyfus à Carpentras, Gallimard, Paris, 1926.
• Le Balai de sorcière, Gallimard, Paris, 1935.
• Jérusalem à Carpentras, Gallimard, 1937.
• Les Amandes d'Aix, Gallimard, Paris, 1949.
• La Belle à la fontaine, A. Fayard, Paris, 1959.
• J'ai vu vivre la Provence, A. Fayard, Paris, 1962.
• Juifs du Languedoc, de la Provence et des États français du Pape, Albin Michel, Paris, 1975.
• Les Chemins de mon judaïsme et divers inédits, presented by Georges Jessula, L'Harmattan, Paris, 1993.

External links

• Armand Lunel at Beit Hatefutsot, the Museum of the Jewish Diaspora in Ramat Aviv, Israel