About

Known credits:
30
Birthday:
1873-01-28
Place of birth:
Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, Yonne, France
Website:
N/A

Colette

Overview

Colette's fame extends to being probably the only female writer known by her mononym—She is always and only Colette, though in fact this most feminine of names was her surname: She was born Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette on 28 January 1873 in the French village of Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye.

Her work—mostly at novella length, short and sharp—survives because her chief subject is one that never goes out of fashion. "Love, the bread and butter of my pen," she wrote, though she put it more bluntly in her book The Pure and the Impure (1932): "The flesh, always the flesh, the mysteries and betrayals and frustrations and surprises of the flesh." The story of Colette and her work is one of the most astonishing in modern literature. She was a pioneer of the French school of autofiction (autobiographical fiction), writing about women's lives in ways that broke new ground. Her books were simultaneously popular and acclaimed—read by critics and the public alike—not to mention scandalous. And she made of her life a project just as fascinating and subversive as her books.

Among Colette's best known works are the "Claudine" novels, "La naissance du jour," "Gigi," "Chéri," "The Tendrils of the Vine,"... She was also a mime, actress, journalist and a woman of letters. Colette was the first woman to be elected to the Académie Goncourt and the Belgian Royal Academy, both indicia of respect for her writing.

Known for

Acting
2019 Colette, l'insoumise Actor Herself - Writer (archive footage) 59
Average
1951 Colette Actor 58
Average
1948 Paris Nineteen Hundred Actor Self (archive footage) 58
Average

Writing
2021 La gatta Writing Writer N/A
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2009 Chéri Writing Novel 59
Average
2006 Mademoiselle Gigi Writing Novel N/A
N/A
1990 The Other Woman Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1990 Julie de Carneilhan Writing Novel N/A
N/A
1990 The Ripening Seed Writing Novel N/A
N/A
1980 Break of Day Writing Novel 59
Average
1978 Claudine Writing Novel 69
Fair
1962 Red Carnations Writing Novel N/A
N/A
1958 Gigi Writing Novel 60
Fair
1956 Mitsou Writing Novel 58
Average
1954 Journey to Italy Writing Novel 64
Fair
1954 The Game of Love Writing Novel 59
Average
1952 The Seven Deadly Sins Writing Novel 59
Average
1950 Chéri Writing Novel 59
Average
1950 Minne Writing Novel 59
Average
1950 Julie de Carneilhan Writing Novel N/A
N/A
1949 Gigi Writing Novel 58
Average
1937 Claudine at School Writing Novel 58
Average
1935 Divine Writing Writer 59
Average
1935 Divine Writing Scenario Writer 59
Average
1934 Ladies Lake Writing Dialogue 58
Average
1932 The Wanderer Writing Novel N/A
N/A
1932 The Wanderer Writing Writer N/A
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1918 La flamme cachée Writing Novel N/A
N/A
1918 La vagabonda Writing Novel N/A
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1917 Claudine à l'école Writing Writer N/A
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