Reviewed by: Lodève, cité occitane / Lodeva, ciutat occitana: Patrimoine occitan en Lodévois ed. by Eliane Gauzit Wendy Pfeffer Eliane Gauzit, ed., Lodève, cité occitane / Lodeva, ciutat occitana: Patrimoine occitan en Lodévois. Toulouse: Presses universitaires du Midi, 2015. 393 pp. + CD-ROM. ISBN: 978-2-8107-0314-2. 25€ With this volume, Eliane Gauzit offers a love letter to her natal community. The book combines scholarly essays by well-recognized scholars, less well-documented pieces by local experts, a selection of original works, and a CD-ROM that includes performances of readings and songs printed in the anthology. The work is divided into four sections: I. Linguistic Patrimony, II. Occitan Writing, III. Occitan Bias, and IV. Life in the Lodévois, concluding with Occitan Today. The texts are largely in French, with literary works in Occitan, only some of which are translated into French. Perhaps of most interest to Tenso readers are the essays that discuss the language, literature, and use of Occitan in the city of Lodève and its region through the ages. Pierre Bec’s “L’Occitan parlé à Lodève d’après la parabole de l’Enfant prodigue” (29–36) offers a careful analysis of what makes the Occitan in Lodève distinctive as a subdialect of Languedocian. “L’Occitan dans la région de Lodève au Moyen âge” by Philippe Martel (83–98) considers the extant historical documentation (local scribes did not generally use the local dialect), while Pierre Bec considers “Lodève et les troubadours” (99–109)—they were few and far between. Philippe Gardy addresses “Au XIXe siècle: Prosper Gély… et quelques autres” (111–44), discussing Lodève’s most famous Occitan native son. This essay is followed by a selection of Gély’s works. Jean-Pierre Marc addresses the place of Lodève in history in his “1907: La révolte des vignerons” (163–68). These essays are the closest to scholarly. Other essays are more on the line of collections of data, such as “Le Toponyne ‘Lodève’” by Jacques Astor (25–27), “Les Rues du vieux Lodève d’après le compoix de 1401” by Maurice Cauvy (37–47), “Les Noms de lieux du lodévois” by Christian Dur (49–60), “Les Noms des oiseaux dans le parler occitan du Larzac méridional” by Hubert Martin (61–71), and “Plantes du Lodévois et leurs usages” by [End Page 134] Christian Dur (73–80); Dur also added his recollection of counting terms used by lottery callers in “Lotos” (315–19). Éliane Gauzit contributes “Proverbes–dictons–expressions populaires” (171–92) and “Contes et récits / Contes e racontes” to which Michel Valière offers a typological commentary (193–217). Gauzit also collected “Chansons–chansonnettes et formules brèves” (219–55), these last of particular interest for the folklorist, as well as “Sobriquets collectifs de l’ancien diocèse de Lodève, liste psalmodiée sur l’air de l’épître (Jules Calvet)” (275–83) and “Les Fêtes” (303–14). We also have three “Histoires locales” (257–73), a discussion of “La vigne–le vin” by Yvon Creissac (285–91), and “Manger et boire (Lo Manjar e lo beure)” (293–301), contributions from members of the Cercle occitan du Lodévois. The fourth section is a section of literary works with a connection to Lodève, with excerpts from Léon Cordes’s Lo mistèri Frocan (327–31) (St. Fulcran/Frocan is Lodève’s patron saint), Maryse Boisgontier’s discussion (in Occitan) of François Bon’s book about Lodève, C’était toute une vie (333–36), some “Chroniques/Chaupics” by Christian Dur presented on Rádio Lodeva (337–53), an excerpt from Claude Alranq’s Lo Miracle Frocan (355–59), a bit of Florian Vernet (361–69) and Joan-Pau Creissac (371–75), capped by original Occitan poetry written by middle-school children from Lodève (377–88). The book is complemented by a bibliography for the scholarly essays, an index of titles discussed in the work (389–90), and a list of “documents sonores” included on the attached CD (391–92). When I acquired this book, I...