Colette, Sidonie-Gabrielle

(1873-1954)

   novelist

   Known by her pen name of Colette, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, whose novels probed deeply into the life of the senses and into human relationships, was born in Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, Burgundy. She spent her early years there (described in Claudine à l'école, 1906), then, in 1893, married the first of her three husbands, the writer Henri Gauthier-Villars, and moved with him to Paris. Although they collaborated on four novels (the Claudine series, 1900-03), using his pen name (Willy), these frank semiautobiographical works were largely written by Colette. Divorced in 1906, she spent a few years satisfying her theatrical ambitions by appearing on the music-hall stage. Then, writing under the name Colette, she began to establish her reputation as the leading female novelist in France. This reputation was firmly established with the publication of Chéri (1920), a bittersweet story of an older woman's love affair with a selfish youth. Colette had also married again, to Henri de Jou-venel, and with him collaborated on the Matin series (Les Heures longues, 1917; Dans la foule, 1918; Aventures quotidiennes, 1924). Among Colette's other highly praised novels are Retraite sentimentale (1907), Les Vrilles de la vigne (1908), L'Ingénue libertine (1909), Mitsou (1919), Le Blé en herbe (1923), and Sido (1924), about her mother. She also explores her love of nature and domestic animals. Her later important works include Julie de Carneilhan (1941), L'Étoile Vesper (1947), and Le Fanal bleu (1949). Colette was also a journalist, playwright, and critic, and her own works, strong in characterization and drama, have frequently been adapted for the stage and screen. In 1945, she became the first woman elected to the Académie Goncourt.