Colette

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Colette , a Frenchwoman whose career began with the twentieth century, wrote nearly eighty volumes of fiction (often depicting lesbian or other scandalous sexuality), as well as journalism, memoirs (she is a great self-fashioner), and plays. Only a fraction is commented on here. Eight various collections of her letters have been printed, and many more remain unpublished. Her favourite topics are love, sensuality, and people's jockeying for power in relationships; she is a pioneer in the representation of female desire.
Castle, Terry. “Yes you, sweetheart”. London Review of Books, pp. 3-8.
5
Black and white photograph of Colette wearing a man's suit (with cuffed jacket) and dress shoes. She is sittine turned in a chair so that her arm rests on its back, crossing her left leg over her right, and smoking a cigarette. She wear her hair in a curly bob.

Milestones

28 January 1873

Colette was born at Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, in Burgundy, as Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette. The name she chose to write under was her father's surname.
Richardson, Joanna. Colette. Methuen.
3
Colette,. Lettres à Sa Fille, 1916-1953. Editor Jouvenel, Anne de, Gallimard.
532, 534

By May 1900

Colette published her first novel, Claudine à l'école, written in co-operation with her husband, Henri Gauthier-Villars (Willy), and published in his name.
Norell, Donna M. Colette: An Annotated Primary and Secondary Bibliography. Garland.
94

1920

Colette 's Chéri, which appeared this year—one of her best-known works, both as a novel and in a later dramatised version—is remarkable for its reversal of gender stereotypes.
OCLC WorldCat. http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

1941

Colette published Le Pur et l'Impur, a memoir of life in lesbian circles in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s.
Norell, Donna M. Colette: An Annotated Primary and Secondary Bibliography. Garland.
67
Castle, Terry. “Yes you, sweetheart”. London Review of Books, pp. 3-8.
6

Late 1944

Colette published at Lausanne in neutral Switzerland a collection of her shorter prose, Gigi et Autres Nouvelles. French editions followed in 1945.
OCLC WorldCat. http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.
Colette,. Lettres à Sa Fille, 1916-1953. Editor Jouvenel, Anne de, Gallimard.
443n1
Norell, Donna M. Colette: An Annotated Primary and Secondary Bibliography. Garland.
121

1952

A combined translation from Colette by Roger Senhouse was published as Gigi. Julie de Carneilhan. Chance Acquaintances.
Norell, Donna M. Colette: An Annotated Primary and Secondary Bibliography. Garland.
121

8:30 3 August 1954

Colette died of cardiac arrest in Paris.
Richardson, Joanna. Colette. Methuen.
228

Biography

Birth and Influences

28 January 1873

Colette was born at Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, in Burgundy, as Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette. The name she chose to write under was her father's surname.
Richardson, Joanna. Colette. Methuen.
3
Colette,. Lettres à Sa Fille, 1916-1953. Editor Jouvenel, Anne de, Gallimard.
532, 534

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