FRENCH CLASSICS FEATURED

Reading lists

Where to start with French Classics

Gigi

Colette, the creator of Claudine, Cheri and Gigi, and one of France’s outstanding writers, had a long, varied and active life. She was born in Burgundy on 1873 into a home overflowing with dogs, cats and children, and educated at the local village school. At the age of twenty she moved to Paris with her first husband, the notorious writer and critic Henry Gauthier-Villas (Willy). By locking her in her room, Willy forced Collette to write her first novels (the Claudine sequence), which he published under his name. They were an instant success. Colettte left Willy in 1906 and worked in music-halls as an actor and dancer. She had a love affair with Napoleon’s niece, married twice more, had a baby at 40 and at 47. Her writing, which included novels, portraits, essays and a large body of autobiographical prose, was admired by Proust and Gide. She was the first woman President of the Académie Goncourt, and when she died, aged 81, she was given a state funeral and buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

'He must know by now, I should think, that I can give as good as I get!' 
 
This is the story of Gigi, educated as a future courtesan in Paris, her days are filled with cigars, lobster, lace and superstitions. Bored and unconvinced by what she's taught, Gigi surprises everyone with her earnest approach to love. 
In this classic turn-of-the-century novella, Colette unveils Gigi's journey into womanhood in rich and supple prose. 
 
Meet ten of literature's most iconic heroines, jacketed in bold portraits by female photographers from around the world.

Claudine At School

The first book in the Claudine series which became a cultural phenomenon in early 20th century France - featured in the new, acclaimed film COLETTE, starring Keira Knightley, out Jan 2019.

A perpetual feast to the reader. Her prose is rich, flawless, intricate, audacious and utterly beautiful

Everything that Colette touched became human

Her sensual prose style made her one of the great writers of 20th century France

Accessible and elusive; greedy and austere; courageous and timid; subversive and complacent; scorchingly honest and sublimely mendacious; an inspired consoler and an existential pessimist—these are the qualities of the artist and the woman. It is time to rediscover them

Colette, the creator of Claudine, Cheri and Gigi, and one of France’s outstanding writers, had a long, varied and active life. She was born in Burgundy on 1873 into a home overflowing with dogs, cats and children, and educated at the local village school. At the age of twenty she moved to Paris with her first husband, the notorious writer and critic Henry Gauthiers-Viller (Willy). By locking her in her room, Willy forced Collette to write her first novels (the Claudine sequence), which he published under his name. They were an instant success. Colettte left Willy in 1906 and worked in music-halls as an actor and dancer. She had a love affair with Napoleon’s niece, married twice more, had a baby at 40 and at 47. Her writing, which included novels, portraits, essays and a large body of autobiographical prose, was admired by Proust and Gide. She was the first woman President of the Académie Goncourt, and when she died, aged 81, she was given a state funeral and buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

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.

Claudine And Annie

The fourth and final book in the Claudine series which became a cultural phenomenon in early 20th century France - featured in the new, acclaimed film COLETTE, starring Keira Knightley, out Jan 2019.

She has been compared to a 20th-century female Montaigne, and it is true that her books offer a manual on how to live fearlessly and joyfully – greedily alive to every sensation and experience

This most French of all French writers . . . One thinks of her as the female voice of Paris . . . It's as if all the house fronts of Paris were cut away and we could see men and women talking, dressing, brooding, loving

Her sensual prose style made her one of the great writers of twentieth-century France -

Her prose is rich, flawless, intricate, audacious and utterly beautiful

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.

Claudine Married

The third book in the Claudine series which became a cultural phenomenon in early 20th century France - featured in the new, acclaimed film COLETTE, starring Keira Knightley, out Jan 2019.

Her sensual prose style made her one of the great writers of twentieth-century France

THE STORIES THAT INSPIRED THE FILM COLETTE, out Jan 2019. 
 
The third book in Colette's enchanting Claudine series. 
 
Following the excitement of a shared life in Paris, Claudine's marriage to Renaud has settled into a stale pattern of bickering conversations and mutual inattention. Just as Claudine begins to fear herself confined to a stifled existence, a chance meeting with a friend's wife, the beautiful Rezi, draws her into an impassioned and heartbreaking affair. 
 
In Claudine Married Claudine pits her uniquely sensuous spirit against the challenges of married life and the conflicts of forbidden love in one of Colette's most moving and powerful novels.

Claudine In Paris

The second book in the Claudine series which became a cultural phenomenon in early 20th century France - featured in the new, acclaimed film COLETTE, starring Keira Knightley, out Jan 2019.

Accessible and elusive; greedy and austere; courageous and timid; subversive and complacent; scorchingly honest and sublimely mendacious; an inspired consoler and an existential pessimist—these are the qualities of the artist and the woman. It is time to rediscover them.

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.

Gigi and The Cat

Set in fin-de-siècle Paris, Gigi is Colette’s much-loved book about a spirited young girl who finds love in spite of her family’s best intentions.

Colette is a kind of corsetiere of love. This most French of all French writers tells us how love sometimes binds and keeps a woman from breathing freely or how it may shape and support her and help her to be beautiful . . . One thinks of her as the female voice of Paris . . . It's as if all the house fronts of Paris were cut away and we could see men and women talking, dressing, brooding, loving

Everything that Colette touched became human... She was a complete sensualist; but she gave herself up to her senses with such delicacy of perception, with such exquisiteness of physical pain as well as physical ecstasy, that she ennobled sensualism almost to grandeur

The paradoxes of great literature are those of human nature, and Colette is nothing if not human . . . Accessible and elusive; greedy and austere; courageous and timid; subversive and complacent; scorchingly honest and sublimely mendacious; an inspired consoler and an existential pessimist—these are the qualities of the artist and the woman. It is time to rediscover them

The famous tale by the trailblazing subject of major new film Colette 
 
GIGI TRANSLATED BY ROGER SENHOUSE, THE CAT TRANSLATED BY ANTONIA WHITE 
 
Gigi’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.

Colette

Her writing is as sensuous and acute as it is unsentimental... Very beautiful and subtle... I feel more alive when I read her

Vintage Classics French Series

This is Colette's famous love story about the romance 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. 
 
VINTAGE FRENCH CLASSICS - six masterpieces of French fiction in gorgeous new gift editions. 
 
'This most French of all French writers tells us how love sometimes binds and keeps a woman from breathing freely or how it may shape and support her and help her to be beautiful . . . One thinks of her as the female voice of Paris . . .' New York Times

Colette

Praise for Cheri

Her writing is as sensuous and acute as it is unsentimental... Very beautiful and subtle... I feel more alive when I read her

Books by Colette

Series by Colette

Claudine4 Books

French Vintage Classics6 Books

Vintage Heroines10 Books

Articles featuring Colette

Where to start with French Classics

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