Colette – författare

THE STORIES THAT INSPIRED THE FILM COLETTE, out Jan 2019.The first book in Colette's enchanting Claudine series.Colette’s enchanting stories of the clever and charming Claudine were first published under her husband’s name, and they were an instant sensation in early twentieth-century France. In Claudine at School we meet Claudine as a teenager, wickedly witty, rebellious and effervescent, competing with her new headmistress for the affections of the pretty mistress Miss Aimee. With her first book Colette turned her life into art and a literary icon was born.

THE STORIES THAT INSPIRED THE FILM COLETTE, out Jan 2019.In this final novel in Colette's famous series it is Claudine's friend Annie who tells the story in the form of a private diary. Claudine is happily settled with her adored husband Renaud, spending her time giving wide and worldly advice to despairing Annie, whose life with the boring and dominating Alain is set to dramatically change. With the help of Claudine, Annie takes steps to empower her own life, a life away from her husband.Though Colette's intoxicating series of novels emerges a portrait of Claudine an intelligent, modern woman whose life is always honest, passionate and inspiring.

THE STORIES THAT INSPIRED THE FILM COLETTE, out Jan 2019.The second book in Colette's enchanting Claudine series.Seventeen-year-old Claudine is in despair having left her beloved village Montigny for a new life in Paris. Comforted by her devoted maid Melie, her slug-obsessed Papa, and the trustworthy cat Fanchette, Claudine’s instinctive curiosity gradually leads to an awakened interest in the city. Ruthless and sensual, Claudine records her sharp observations and adventures amongst the intriguing characters that surround her, evoking all the glamour and excitement of Parisian life.Written with striking realism Claudine in Paris is an inspiring portrait of a precocious young girl on the brink of transformation into a woman for her, and our, time.

The famous tale by the trailblazing subject of major new film ColetteGIGI TRANSLATED BY ROGER SENHOUSE, THE CAT TRANSLATED BY ANTONIA WHITEGigi’s days are filled with cigars, lobster, lace and superstitions: the education of a future courtesan. Bored and unconvinced by what she’s taught, Gigi surprises all with her approach to love. In this classic turn-of-the-century novella, Colette unveils Gigi’s journey into womanhood in rich and supple prose. This edition includes The Cat translated by Antonia White.

A vivid, believable love story between an older woman and a younger man.Léa de Lonval is a magnificent and aging courtesan facing the end of her career. She has devoted the last six years to the amorous education of the exquisitely handsome and spoilt Chéri – a playboy half her age. When an advantageous marriage is arranged for Chéri, Léa reluctantly decides their relationship must end. But neither lover can foresee how deeply they are connected, or how much they will have to give up.First published in 1920, it was instantly greeted by Marcel Proust and André Gide as a masterpiece.‘I devoured Chéri at a gulp. What a wonderful subject and with what intelligence, mastery and understanding of the least-admitted secrets of the flesh’ André Gide

Edited and with an introduction by Robert PhelpsThe hundred short stories collected here include such masterpieces as 'Bella-Vista', 'The Tender Shoot' and 'Le K-pi', Colette's subtle and ruthless rendering of a woman's belated sexual awakening. Shot through with the colours and flavours of the Parisian world and fertile French countryside, these short stories reverberate with the fine-spun desire, wit and psychological acuity that made Colette unique.

'My little puma! My darling cat! My mountain lion! How will you go on living if we leave each other?'Colette (1873-1954) is one of the most widely read and critically acclaimed French writers of the twentieth century. The Cat (first serialised then published in volume form in 1933) is one of her short novels. This story of a middle-class couple in 1920s Paris follows the familiar romantic structure of the 'eternal triangle', with the unexpected twist that the female rival is not a woman but a cat. The novel displays her capacity to conjure up a vibrantly physical world and a particular social moment, her radical yet nuanced view of gender roles, and her empathy with non-human creatures. The Masked Woman is a collection of short texts, mainly written for the daily newspaper Le Matin, focusing on small moments that mark a transition in a person's life, and on certain recurring themes: the pleasure and the pain in relationships between women and men, the wearing of masks both literal and metaphorical, female complicity and solidarity. They are also linked by Colette's inimitable narrative style, by the vividly material fictional universe she creates, and her liking for surprise and paradox that challenges a commonsensical view of the world.ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around theglobe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of othervaluable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies forfurther study, and much more.

'Nothing is real except the dance, the light, the freedom, the music.'Colette's semi-autobiographical novel The Vagabond (1910) follows thirty-three-year-old Renée Néré as she embarks on a stage career after a divorce from philandering ex-husband, painter Adolphe Taillandy. Unlike the earlier Claudine series, which began as a collaboration between Colette and her first husband, Colette worked alone on The Vagabond to create a leading lady navigating the Parisian working world on her own terms. The music hall performers are Renée's familiars and confidants, her fellow vagabonds; for the first time, the reader is offered a look behind the scenes from a woman's perspective, a view enabled by Colette's own simultaneous experience as writer and dancer. Unambiguously feminist and unabashedly sensual, The Vagabond established Colette as a serious novelist, showcasing her talent as an observer of the natural world and a painter of the beauty of the human form.Frances Egan's new translation provides a fresh take on Colette's voice, offering a highly readable text which pulls readers into Renée's world, while preserving as much of the original context as possible to bring Paris, the music hall, and its crew of vagabonds, to life. Attention is paid to Colette's depiction of class, race, and gender. Helen Southworth's in-depth introduction places the book in the context of Colette's life, offers background on Belle Epoque theatre and feminisms, and traces its reception and its importance to readers from Colette's time to our own. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around theglobe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of othervaluable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies forfurther study, and much more.

‘I was an independent, stray dog who answered to no one…’Claudine lives in a large house with a rose-filled garden and a vegetable patch smelling of tomato leaves and apricots. Beyond her house is the village, where travelling performers stop for the night and wedding feasts take place under a bright summer moon. Inside her house are Mama, who loves animals, and Papa, who lost his leg in the war, and a library full of forbidden and irresistible books...Based on Colette’s own early life, Claudine’s House is a rich and enchanting depiction of childhood, animals, flowers, trees, books, families and love in late-nineteenth-century France.

Chéri: spoiled, petulant, beautiful, aged twenty-five. Léa: magnificent, brilliant, remorseless, aged forty-nine. They are in love, but their relationship exists beyond the bounds of social acceptability and must one day come to an end, no matter the cost.A succès de scandale on publication for its depiction of transgressive love, Colette’s celebrated novella is also a profound and compelling exploration of the passage of time, the body and ageing, mirrors, self-perception, self-knowledge and the tragedy of mortality.

‘Fine teeth, my girl. With teeth like that I’d have gobbled up Paris and the rest of the world.'Gigi, a teenage girl in fin-de-siècle Paris, is being groomed by her family to become a high-class courtesan, just like her aunt and grandmother before her. But despite their best efforts, their timid protégée may have other ideas for her future...Colette's famous novella is a sly and delicate depiction of exploitation and resistance, and is paired here with the wonderful short novel ‘The Cat’.

Renée, aged thirty-three and divorced from her serially unfaithful husband, reinvents herself as a dancer in France’s music halls. When a wealthy suitor appears promising marriage and stability, Renée must choose between the security he represents and her hard-won life as an artist.Colette’s great novel of the stage was based on her experiences as a struggling music hall performer following her own divorce. By turns melancholy and funny, it is a pioneering work of autofiction and a vivid portrayal of one woman’s quest for freedom.

"One of the first and best feminist novels ever written." — Erica Jong. This vivid portrait of Parisian music hall life was drawn from the personal experiences of the author of Gigi. Colette's 1910 novel reflects her adventures as an itinerant dancer as well as her struggles balancing respectability and artistic freedom.