Nobel Prize-nominated French novelist Colette (née Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette) was a queer woman with revolutionary ideas. Born January 1873 in the Burgundy region of France, Colette described her childhood as quietly idyllic. In the spirit of comme des garcons,“being like the boys,” Colette shed her first name upon moving to Paris in favor of her patronym. She married author Henry Gauthier-Villars in 1893. “Willy,” as he was often called, along with many other “nom de plumes,” had a not-so-secret secret: much of his published work had been ghostwritten by others. Colette’s first four novels, bildungsroman stories featuring young female heroine Claudine, were published under his name. The Claudine chronicles introduced a new form of womanhood to early 20th century French literature: rebellious, tough, introspective and, perhaps most shockingly of all, a sexual being. Gauthier-Villars, an infamous playboy, introduced Colette to avant-garde intellectual and artistic culture and encouraged her to explore her sexuality. He referred to the Claudine novels as “the secondary myth of Sappho….the girls’ school or convent ruled by a seductive female teacher.” As a result, much of Colette’s work was kept from “decent” Frenchwomen and even put on the Vatican’s blacklist.
When Colette requested that her name be associated with her work, her husband resisted by locking her in her room until she started writing again. The couple separated in 1906 and were divorced four years later. Colette had no access to the earnings of her books, so she pursued a career on stage in music halls across France until 1912, at times performing half-nude or in drag. During that time she pursued relationships with Mathilde de Morny and the Marquise de Belbeuf. She and the Marquise almost incited a riot when they kissed on stage. As a result, they could not live openly as a couple but stayed together for another five years.
Colette’s 1993 novella Gigi was later made into a musical in 1994 starring the then-unknown Audrey Hepburn. For interested readers, an eponymous biopic on Colette starring Keira Knightley recently came out in theaters.
Caroline Fritz is a fourth-year student majoring in English. JR868511@wcupa.edu.