AUBANEL, THÉODORE. - Provençal poet, one of the leaders of the Félibrige movement (b. at Avignon on 26 March 1829; d. there on 24 Oct. 1886). We recall his two collections: La Miougrano entreduberto (The Half-Open Pomegranate), lyrics inspired by a mystical lover who became a nun of charity, and Li Fihò d'Avignoun (The Girls of Avignon), imbued with sensual love. He also wrote two dramas: Lou Pan dou pecat and Lou Pastre, permeated with intense eroticism. Denounced to the ecclesiastical authority for neopagan tendencies, he destroyed part of his work. In Lou Poutoun de Judas (1869) he declared himself against the annexation of Rome to Italy.
BIBL.: J. Vincent, Th. A., la vie et l'homme, le poète, Avignon 1924. Giorgio Calogero