Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (French: [sidɔni ɡabʁijɛl kɔlɛt]; January 28, 1873 – August 3, 1954) was a French author and writer. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is most famous in English-speaking countries for her 1944 novella Gigi, which inspired the 1958 film and the 1973 stage play of the same name. In France, her short story collection The Tendrils of the Vine is also well-known.
Early life
Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette was born on January 28, 1873, in the village of Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, located in the Yonne department of Burgundy. Her father, Captain Jules-Joseph Colette (1829–1905), was a soldier in the Saint-Cyr military school and a war hero. He lost a leg during the Battle of Melegnano in the Second Italian War of Independence and was given a job as a tax collector in Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, where his children were born. Her mother, Adèle Eugénie Sidonie, née Landoy (1835–1912), was known by the nickname Sido. Colette’s great-grandfather, Robert Landois, was a wealthy person of mixed African and European heritage from Martinique who moved to Charleville in 1787. Before marrying Captain Colette, her mother had two children from her first marriage to Jules Robineau Duclos: Juliette (1860–1908) and Achille (1863–1913). After marrying Captain Colette, her mother had two more children: Leopold (1866–1940) and Sidonie-Gabrielle. Colette attended a public school from the ages of 6 to 17. The family was initially wealthy, but poor financial decisions led to a decrease in their income.
Career
In 1893, Colette married Henry Gauthier-Villars (1859–1931), an author and publisher who was 14 years older than she was. He wrote under the name "Willy." Her first four novels—the four Claudine stories—Claudine à l'école (1900), Claudine à Paris (1901), Claudine en ménage (1902), and Claudine s'en va (1903)—were published under his name. These books were later translated into English as Claudine at School, Claudine in Paris, Claudine Married, and Claudine and Annie.
The novels follow Claudine, the main character, as she grows from a 15-year-old girl in a village in Burgundy to a respected figure in Parisian literary circles at the turn of the 20th century. The story is partly based on Colette’s own life, though Claudine, unlike Colette, does not have a mother.
Colette’s marriage to Gauthier-Villars allowed her to focus on writing. She later said she would not have become a writer if not for Willy. He introduced her to advanced intellectual and artistic groups in Paris and supported her relationships with women. He also chose the themes for the Claudine novels, such as the story of the ancient poet Sappho or a school led by a charming female teacher. Willy once locked Colette in her room until she wrote enough pages to meet his expectations.
Post divorce
Colette and Willy separated in 1906, but their divorce was completed in 1910. Colette did not receive the large income from the Claudine books because the copyright belonged to Willy. From 1906 until 1912, she worked in theaters across France, sometimes performing scenes from her own books as Claudine. She earned very little money, often struggled with hunger, and was sometimes sick. To help pay for living expenses, she began writing more seriously for newspapers in the 1910s. Around this time, she also became interested in taking photographs. This time in her life is described in her book La Vagabonde (1910), which focuses on women’s independence in a society led by men, a topic she often wrote about later.
During these years, Colette had relationships with other women, especially with Natalie Clifford Barney and Mathilde de Morny, the Marquise de Belbeuf ("Missy" or "Max"), with whom she sometimes performed on stage. On January 3, 1907, a kiss between Colette and Max during a play called Rêve d'Égypte caused a big commotion, and they could no longer live together openly, though their relationship lasted for five more years.
In 1912, Colette married Henry de Jouvenel, who was the editor of Le Matin. A daughter, Colette de Jouvenel, who was nicknamed Bel-Gazou, was born to them in 1913.
1920s and 1930s
In 1920, Colette published Chéri, a book that describes a romantic relationship between an older woman and a much younger man. In the story, Chéri is the lover of Léa, a wealthy woman who offers companionship to rich men. Léa is very sad when Chéri marries a girl his own age, but she is happy when he returns to her. However, after one final night together, Léa sends him away again.
Colette’s marriage to her husband, Jouvenel, ended in divorce in 1924. This was partly because Jouvenel was unfaithful, and partly because Colette had a romantic relationship with her 16-year-old stepson, Bertrand de Jouvenel. In 1925, Colette met Maurice Goudeket, who became her final husband. The couple remained married until Colette’s death.
By this time, Colette was already a well-known writer. Her book The Vagabond had received three votes for the prestigious Prix Goncourt award. The 1920s and 1930s were the most creative and innovative years of her career. Her stories often took place in Burgundy or Paris during the Belle Époque, a time of cultural and artistic growth. Her work focused on themes like marriage, relationships, and sexuality. Many of her books were based on her own life. For example, Chéri (1920) and Le Blé en Herbe (1923) both explore relationships between older women and much younger men, similar to her real-life relationships with Bertrand de Jouvenel and her husband, Maurice Goudeket, who was 16 years younger than her. In La Naissance du Jour (1928), Colette criticized the traditional roles of women through a story about her mother, Sido, who reflects on aging and giving up love.
At this time, Colette was widely praised as France’s greatest female writer. Janet Flanner once wrote, “Sido (1929) has no plot, and yet tells of three lives all that should be known.” She also noted that Colette was “hailed for her genius, humanity, and perfect prose” by literary journals that had previously ignored her work.
During the 1920s, Colette worked with Elissa Rhaïs, a Jewish-Algerian writer who used a Muslim identity to promote her novels.
Last years, 1940–1954
Colette was 67 years old when France was taken over by the Germans. She stayed in Paris, living in her apartment in the Palais-Royal. Her husband, Maurice Goudeket, who was Jewish, was arrested by the Gestapo in December 1941. He was released after seven weeks because of help from the French wife of the German ambassador. Colette lived the rest of the war years with worry about possibly being arrested again. During the Occupation, she wrote two volumes of memoirs, Journal à Rebours (1941) and De ma Fenêtre (1942). These were published in English in 1975 as Looking Backwards. She also wrote lifestyle articles for several newspapers that supported the Nazis. These writings, along with her novel Julie de Carneilhan (1941), include many harmful statements about Jewish people.
In 1944, Colette published her most famous work, Gigi. The story follows a 16-year-old girl named Gilberte ("Gigi") Alvar, who is born into a family of women who lived in a certain social circle. Gigi is trained to attract wealthy men but chooses to marry one instead of following tradition. In 1949, Gigi was made into a French film starring Danièle Delorme and Gaby Morlay. In 1951, it was adapted for the stage, with the then-unknown Audrey Hepburn (chosen by Colette) in the lead role. A 1958 Hollywood musical version, starring Leslie Caron and Louis Jourdan, was written by Alan Jay Lerner and had a score by Lerner and Frederick Loewe. This film won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
After the war, Colette became a well-known public figure. Arthritis caused her to become physically limited, and she was cared for by Goudeket, who helped prepare her complete works, Œuvres Complètes (1948–1950). She continued writing during this time, publishing L’Étoile Vesper (1946) and Le Fanal Bleu (1949). These books explored the challenges of a writer whose stories are mainly based on her own life.
In 1948, Colette was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature by Claude Farrère, a member of the Académie Française. During the discussion, the Nobel Committee stated that "the French writer is moving on a plane where she cannot seriously be considered for a Nobel Prize." Her nomination was not accepted.
Journalism
Colette's first journalism work from 1895 to 1900 was done with her husband, Gauthier-Villars. They wrote music reviews for La Cocarde, a daily newspaper started by Maurice Barres, and other articles for La Fronde. After her divorce from Gauthier-Villars in 1910, Colette wrote alone for many different publications. She became well-known for writing about social trends, theater, fashion, film, and crime. In December 1910, Colette started writing a regular column for the Paris newspaper Le Matin. At first, she used a fake name, and later she used the name "Colette Willy." One of her editors was Henry de Jouvenel, and they married in 1912. By 1912, Colette had learned how to be a reporter. She once said, "You must see things, not make them up. You must feel them, not imagine them. For example, when you see blood-soaked sheets at a crime scene, the color is something you can never imagine." In 1914, Colette was given the title of literary editor at Le Matin. Colette's separation from Jouvenel in 1923 made her stop working with Le Matin. Over the next 30 years, her articles appeared in more than 20 publications, including Vogue, Le Figaro, and Paris-Soir. During the German occupation of France, Colette kept writing for daily and weekly newspapers. Some of these were collaborationist and pro-Nazi, such as Le Petit Parisien, which became pro-Vichy after January 1941, and La Gerbe, a pro-Nazi weekly newspaper. Even though her articles were not political, Colette was strongly criticized for using her reputation
Death and legacy
Colette died on August 3, 1954. Because she had been married more than once, the Catholic Church did not allow her to have a religious funeral. However, she was given a state funeral, which was a special honor. She was the first French woman to receive this honor and was buried in Père-Lachaise Cemetery.
Colette was a member of the Belgian Royal Academy in 1935, the Académie Goncourt in 1945, and became its president in 1949. She was also awarded the title of Chevalier in 1920 and Grand Officer in 1953 by the Légion d’honneur, a French honor.
Many people who study Colette’s life and work have different opinions about her. At first, she was seen as a talented but limited writer. However, over time, she has been recognized as an important voice in women’s writing. Before Colette’s death, Katherine Anne Porter wrote in The New York Times that Colette “is the greatest living French writer of fiction; and that she was while Gide and Proust still lived.”
Liane de Pougy, who lived from 1869 to 1950, wrote about her life in diaries from 1919 to 1941. These diaries were published in French as Mes cahiers bleus in 1977 and in English as My Blue Notebooks in 1979.
Singer Rosanne Cash honored Colette in a song called “The Summer I Read Colette” on her 1996 album 10 Song Demo. In 1970, Truman Capote wrote an essay titled “The White Rose” about meeting Colette. He described how she gave him a paperweight she loved, saying that a gift should be something the giver also treasures.
In 1972, artists Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro created Womanhouse, a feminist art project. It was the first public art exhibition focused on women’s empowerment. One room, Leah’s Room by Karen LeCocq and Nancy Youdelman, was inspired by Colette’s book Chéri. They used old-fashioned items to create a room that looked like a woman’s bedroom from the 1800s. Karen dressed as a character from the book and applied makeup repeatedly, showing how the character tried to stay young.
In 2015, singer Julia Holter made a song called “Lucette Stranded on the Island” on her album Have You in My Wilderness. The song is based on a character from one of Colette’s short stories.
In the 1991 movie Becoming Colette, the French actress Mathilda May played Colette. In the 2018 film Colette, the actress Keira Knightley portrayed her. Both movies show Colette’s life in her 20s, her first marriage, and the writing of her first books under her husband’s name.