Colette had a rather jolly girlhood at school, in terms of male friendships and general seditious wickedness er. But she also took a lot from that education, which can be seen in her later work. She was scathing about the sort of pompous rhetoric that accompanied patriotism but remained a proud frenchwoman throughout her life. A very strong work ethic. For one thing that she always maintained, obviously, her ability to perceive and apprehend and reflect on the world around her,. The love of france. Though she was almost pushed into her first marriage with a man much older than she was, but he was, people knew him as willy.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the outstanding French writers of the twentieth century. The novels of Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873 - 1954) always had women at their centre, from youth to mid-life to old age, and they were phenomenally popular, at first for their freshness and frankness about women’s lives, as in the Claudine stories, and soon for their sheer quality as she developed as a writer. Throughout her career she intrigued readers by inserting herself, or a character with her name, into her works, fictionalising her life as a way to share her insight into the human experience.
With
Diana Holmes
Professor of French at the University of Leeds
Michèle Roberts
Writer, novelist, poet and Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia
And
Belinda Jack
Fellow and Tutor in French Literature and Language at Christ Church, University of Oxford
Producer: Simon Tillotson