Colette (1873–1954) 🤵🏻♀️ was of the same generation as Marcel Proust (1871–1922) 🤵🏻♂️.
Translated from French.
Colette (1873–1954) 🤵🏻♀️ was of the same generation as Marcel Proust (1871–1922) 🤵🏻♂️. When she moved to Paris in 1893, newly married to ‘Monsieur Willy’ 👰🏻♀️, she moved in social and artistic circles. Her Burgundian accent and her outspoken, country-girl manner quickly made her something of a sensation. ✨
Willy, a veritable ‘slave driver’ of the publishing world, put his young wife to work: she wrote and, from 1900 onwards, he published the ‘Claudine’ series under the name ‘Willy’. Colette became ‘Claudine’ in the eyes of the world. For Willy had a certain flair for ‘marketing’ 💰💰 ahead of his time: he had her cut her long hair 💇🏻♀️ to resemble the actress Polaire, who played Claudine on stage. The Claudine collar, merchandise: Willy never missed an opportunity to make money.
Later, Gabrielle broke free from Willy and, little by little, adopted a pen name: Colette. The name her father had given her. She chronicled her life in the press 🗞️, and from as early as 1908, she collected her writings in anthologies such as “Les Vrilles de la vigne”, for example. 📓
Her beloved mother, Sido, died in 1912. In 1929, Colette accepted a proposal from Krâ Publishers to publish a story about her childhood. She wrote a chapter entitled ‘Sido or the Cardinal Points’, which she supplemented in 1930 with two further chapters: ‘The Captain’ and ‘The Savages’, referring respectively to her father and her siblings.
As for Proust, he had published a collection of short stories at his own expense in 1896 @calmann.levy: “Pleasures and Days”. Then, in 1913, again self-published but this time with @editionsgrasset, “Swann's Way”, the first volume of the “Search”.
Proust died in 1922 🪦. His complete works were published in 1927 📚. Colette admired “the Search” and, in particular, its depiction of a childhood spent in the countryside. @mairiedillierscombray is also a bit like Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye. 🏡🌾
That is why, in Colette’s work, the contemplation of landscapes alternates with scenes of Paris, character studies and reminiscences. 🕰️
#Colette #MarcelProust #LesVrillesdelavigne #Sido #LaRecherche #RTP #proustagram #DucôtédechezSwann #Combray
— Colette, “New Year’s Day Reverie”, 1909, a text published in the expanded reissue of “Les Vrilles de la vigne” in 1934.