by Colette
The horrors of examinations and good-humoured bullying are the backdrops in this immensely funny and delightful novel with which Colette established the captivating character of Claudine. Through the games, the fun and the intricacies of school life Claudine emerges as a true original; lyrical and intelligent she is one of the twentieth century’s most beguiling emancipated women.
‘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 Times
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COLETTE
Claudine and Annie
‘So intense was her love of life, so responsive are all her senses, that she envelops every experience in poetry’ Raymond Mortimer
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’s life is immeasurably shaken as she takes the steps to empower her own life, a life away from her husband.
Through Colette’s incredible series of novels Claudine emerges as a portrait of an intelligent, modern woman whose life is always honest, passionate and intensely moving.
‘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 Times
Also available in Vintage
COLETTE
Claudine in Paris
‘Everything that Colette touched became human . . .’ The Times
At the age of seventeen Claudine is in despair having left her beloved Montigny for a new life in Paris. Comforted by her devoted maid Mélie, her slug-obsessed Papa, and the trustworthy cat Fanchette, Claudine’s instinctive curiosity gradually leads to an awakened interest in the city.
Ruthless, impetuous and chastely sensual Claudine records her witty observations and adventures amongst the intriguing characters that surround her, evoking 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.
‘Her sense of comedy is exuberant; her understanding of character – within her chosen limits – is profound . . . From her imagination images rush profusely forth like bees from a hive, pollen from poplars, smoke from a cigarette, nudes from the staircase of the Moulin Rouge, platitudes from statesmen, or paintings from Picasso’ Raymond Mortimer
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COLETTE
Gigi and the Cat
‘Her sensual prose style made her one of the great writers of 20th-century France’ New York Times Book Review
In these two superb stories of the politics of love, Colette is at her witty, instinctive best. Gigi is being educated in the skills of the Courtesan: to choose cigars, to eat lobster, to enter a world where a woman’s chief weapon is her body. However, when it comes to the question of Gaston Lachaille, very rich and very bored, Gigi does not want to obey the rules.
In The Cat, a wonderful story of burgeoning sexuality and blossoming love, an exquisite strong-minded Russian Blue is struggling for mastery of Alain with his seductive fiancée, Camille.
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COLETTE
Julie de Carneilhan
and
Chance Acquaintances
‘Her sensual prose style made her one of the great writers of 20th-century France’ New York Times Book Review
Set in pre-war Paris, Julie de Carneilhan tells of the complex relationship between proud but impoverished Julie and her former husband, the Comte d’Espivant, who has remarried a wealthy widow. Julie de Carneilhan was the last full-length novel Colette was to write and was as close a reckoning with the elements of her second marriage as she ever allowed herself.
In Chance Acquaintances Colette visits a health resort accompanied only by her cat. While there, she befriends the handsome Gerard Haume and his invalid wife Antoinette, and is unwittingly caught up in the mysterious and disturbing events which befall them.
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Epub ISBN: 9781446475331
Version 1.0
www.randomhouse.co.uk
Published by Vintage 2001
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Copyright © Martin Secker and Warburg Ltd, 1962
Claudine s’en va, first published in 1903
This translation published by Martin Seeker and Warburg Ltd 1962
Vintage
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EPUB ISBN 9781446475331