Author: Colette
Profile: Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette mononymously known as Colette was a French novelist, author and a woman of letters. She was born in Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, Yonne, France and died in Paris, France. She was better known also as a journalist, actress and mime. One of her most memorable works is her novella Gigi (1944) which was the basis for the 1973 stage production and 1958 film having the same name.
Her father, Jules-Joseph Colette was a tax collector and war hero and her mother was Adele Eugenie Sidonie. Colette went to a public school as the family had a financial weak background.
Colette married a well known publisher and author Henry Gauthier-Villars in 1893 who was popular with a pen name, ‘Willy’. Colette devoted herself greatly to journalism during World War I.
Writing style: In her first 4 almost semi-autobiographical novels Colette presents the coming of age and young adulthood of the character. Willy her husband introduced her into avant-garde artistic and intellectual circles and encouraged Colette’s lesbian alliances and selected the subject matter for her novels.
Published Texts:
Notable works
1900 – Claudine at School
1901 – Claudine in Paris
1902 – Claudine Married
1903 – Claudine and Annie
1904 – Dialogues de betes
1907 – La Retraite sentimentale
1908 – Les Vrilles de la vigne
1910 – La Vagabonde
1913 – L’Envers du music hall
1913 – L’Entrave (The Shackle)
1916 – La Paix chez les betes
1917 – L’Enfant et les sortileges, Ravel opera libretto
1919 – Mitsou
1920 – Cheri
1922 – The Other Woman
1923 – Ripening Seed
1926 – The Last of Cheri
1928 – Break of Day
1929 – Sido
1929 – The Other One
1932 – The Pure and the Impure
1933 – La Chatte
1934 – Duo
1941 – Julie de Carneilhan
1943 – Le Kepi
1944 – Gigi
1944 – Paris de ma fenetre
1947 – L’Etoile Vesper
1949 – Le Fanal Bleu (The Blue Lantern)
1953 – Paradis terrestre
Awards and Acknowledgements:
1948 – Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature
1935 – Elected to the Belgian Royal Academy
1945 – Elected to the Academie Goncourt
1949 – Elected to the Academie Goncourt and President in 1949
1920 – A Chevalier
1953 – Grand Officer of the Legion d’honneur
