Colette

French novelist, playwright, actress, and journalist (1873-1954)

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About

Colette, born Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette in 1873 in Burgundy, is a major figure of French literature. Her early Claudine novels, published under her husband Willy's name, were highly successful. After separating in 1906, she performed in music halls, an experience that inspired La Vagabonde. Her work explores female desire and independence with precise sensory detail, as in Chéri, Sido, and Gigi. The first woman member of the Académie Goncourt, she was given a state funeral in 1954.

* 1873-01-28 — † 1954-08-03

Major works

Claudine à l'école (1900)novel
La Vagabonde (1910)novel
Chéri (1920)novel
Sido (1930)novel
Gigi (1944)novel

Key milestones

1945First woman member of the Académie Goncourt.
1948Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
1954First French woman of letters to receive a state funeral.

Themes

female desireindependencenaturesensualitymemory

Sources: britannica.com · guides.loc.gov

“Sit down and put down everything that comes into your head and then you're a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff's worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.”

— ColetteTheme · Literature

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“You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.”

— ColetteTheme · Motivation

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“I love my past. I love my present. I am not ashamed of what I have had, and I am not sad because I have it no longer.”

— ColetteTheme · Wisdom

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