Cosmopolitan Provincial :

The Life and Works of Colette

IN ALL SUBJECT MATTER THE MALE AUTHOR DOMINATES THE

WRITING FIELD SAVE ONE: THE INTROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS. SIDONIE GABRIELLE COLETTE IS

SHE

THE OUTSTANDING EXAMPLE OF THIS GENRE OF WRITING. WAS BORN IN 1873 IN A FRENCH PROVINCE, LIVING THERE UNTIL AT 17 SHE MARRIED THE UNSCRUPULOUS "WILLY" (HENRY GAUTHIER-VILLARS). UNDER HIS DOMINANCE AND DIRECTIONS SHE WROTE HER FIRST WORKS, THE FAMOUS "CLAUDINE" SERIES.

WILLY INTRODUCED COLETTE INTO HIS VERY SOPHISTICATED MILIEU IN PARIS. THIS INCLUDED A LARGE GROUP OF ARTISTIC LESBIANS LEAD BY THE DAUGHTER OF THE DUC DE MORNY, THE MARQUIS DE BELBOELF, KNOWN AS "MITZY." OTHERS OF THIS EXCLUSIVELY FEMININE GROUP WERE PCLAIRE, RENEE VIVIEN, NATHALIE CLIFFORD BARNEY, MARGUERITTE MORENO AND OTHERS NOW QUITE FAMOUS. COLETTE'S ESCAPADES WITH THIS GROUP CREATED QUITE A SCANDAL, CULMINATING WHEN MITZY AND COLETTE APPEARED IN A STAGE PLAY CALLED "LA REVE D'EGUPTE" ON THE STAGE OF THE MOULIN ROUGE IN JANUARY 1907. A VERY PROLONGED KISS BETWEEN THE TWO CAUSED SUCH AN UPROAR THAT THE PLAY WAS IMMEDIATELY STOPPED.

EVEN DURING THIS RELATIVELY WILD PERIOD IN HER LIFE, COLETTE WROTE STEADILY. IN IN 1912, WHEN SHE MARRIED FOR THE SECOND TIME, HER PUBLIC ESCAPADES CEASED TO A LARGE EXTENT. SHE WAS THEN 39 AND READY TO SETTLE DOWN. THEREAFTER HER TENDENCIES CAME TO LIGHT ONLY IN HER WRITINGS.

IN ALL, COLETTE PRODUCED A LARGE NUMBER OF WORKS: 18 NOVELS, DOZENS OF SHORT SKETCHES, A FEW TRUE SHORT STORIES, MANY INFORMAL ESSAYS ABOUT FLOWERS AND ANIMALS, TWO AUTOBIOGRAPHIES AND HER NON-FICTION MASTERPIECE, CES PLAISIRS, OR, AS H SHE PREFERRED CALLING IT, THE PURE AND THE IMPURE.

AN AMAZING NUMBER OF HER WORKS DEAL WITH LESBIANISM TO A GREATER OR LESSER DEGREE, INCLUDING SOME NOT YET AVAILABLE