Jocelyne François
Jocelyne François | |
---|---|
Jocelyne Francois | |
Born | 1933 Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France |
Language | French |
Genre | Lesbian fiction, poetry |
Notable works | Joue-nous "España" |
Notable awards | Prix Femina |
Jocelyne François (born 1933 in Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle[1]) is a French writer. She is the author of five lesbian novels, and winner of the Prix Femina.[2]
Career
François was born in Nancy as the eldest of three children; early on in her schooling she gave evidence of great memory and a gift for writing. After six years in Catholic boarding school, where she met her future partner Marie-Claire Pichaud, she studied philosophy in Nancy and married, more or less for convenience: the two oldest children of this marriage were raised by their father, the youngest by François and her partner. Her partner is a painter, whose artistic sensitivities greatly influenced François, who embarked on a career as a writer. A turning moment was meeting poet René Char in the 1960s. François and Pichaud lived in Saumane-de-Vaucluse for twenty-five years[3] before moving to Paris[1] in 1985, amid health problems.[3]
Her first novel was Les Bonheurs, published in 1970 with Laffont and republished in 1982[4] with Mercure de France, which publishes all her work. She received the Prix Femina for Joue-nous "España" in 1980,[1][3][5] and the Prix Erckmann-Chatrian for Portrait d’homme au crépuscule in 2001.
Besides novels, she also writes poetry and experimental prose. She began publishing her diaries; in 2009, the fourth volume (covering 2001-2007) was released.[5]
Themes and evaluation
In the French canon, François's work and success is said to testify to the viability and strength of gay and lesbian literature,[6] and adds to the corpus of a feminist, radical lesbian literature begun by Violette Leduc, Monique Wittig, and Christiane Rochefort.[7][8] Her winning the Prix Femina helped signal that literature's "institutional consecration."[6] Alongside Jeanne Galzy and Mireille Best, she is credited with creating "images of lesbians [which] challenge both the dominant heterosexist ideology and the limiting idea of the lesbian novel as manifesto in order to offer new visions of sexual identity."[9] Love, or the "ardeur [de l'amour] qui structure les jours," is an overarching theme in all her work, poetry or prose.[3]
Les Bonheurs (1970) is the first of a series of five partly autobiographical novels (even a "lesbian memoir"[10]) that explore lesbianism, relationships, marriage, and love. It is "a study of love in a hostile context, of lesbian love in a heterosexual world, trying to survive alongside religious belief dictated by a homophobic church."[4] The novel's main characters, Sarah and Anne, have loved each other since they met, at age 16,[10] but Anne breaks off their relationship after being told to do so by her priest. Both have relationships with men as well: Anne marries, and Sarah has an affair with a married man. After ten years the two get back together again.
Les Amantes (1978) picks up a few years after Les Bonheurs left off. Sarah (a painter) lives with the unnamed narrator (a poet) in Provence. Both are also potters. There is a child, and two other children visit for school holidays. A male friend offsets this balance, but the narrator's devotion to Sarah is absolute. The man's desire, however, leaves no room for anyone else, and destroys the relationship.[4]
In Joue-nous "España" (1980), "based on the author's childhood and adolescence," François investigates the influence of a strict Catholic education on a child's understanding of religion, love, and the world.[4] The novel was translated into English as Play Us España, and referred to as an "[excellent] young lesbian's autobiography."[11]
Histoire de Volubilis (1986), like Les Amantes, features a writer and a painter, Cécile and Elisabeth. Their relationship is threatened by the machinations of a psychologist and her husband, and rendered even more difficult by the mental problems experienced by Cécile's (grown) children.[4]
La femme sans tombe (1995) is the last of the five novels; its publication was apparently delayed because of a sickness on the part of the author. Some of the autobiographical aspects have been clarified by the intermediate publication of Le Cahier vert, 1961-1989 (1990), a journal of the author's childhood, which includes an account of her long relationship with a Marie-Claire Pichaud—a painter and a potter—versions of whom inhabit the novels.[4]
Bibliography
Novels
- Les Bonheurs (1970, republished 1982)
- Les Amantes (1978)
- Joue-nous "España" (1980)
- Histoire de Volubilis (1986)
- La femme sans tombe (1995)
- Les Amantes ou tombeau de C. (1998)
- Portrait d'homme au crépuscule (2001)
Poetry
- Signes d'air (1982, ISBN 2-7152-0032-3)
Diaries
- Le Cahier vert, 1961-1989 (1990)
- Journal 1990-2000, une vie d’écrivain (2001)
- Le Solstice d'hiver: journal 2001-2007 (2009)
Prose
- Le Sel (1992)
- La Nourriture de Jupiter (1998)
References
- ^ a b c "Jocelyne François: Comme on parle à la nuit tombée". Ombres Blanches. 2 May 2005. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
- ^ "Tous les lauréats du Prix Femina". Femina. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
- ^ a b c d Naudin, Marie (1996). "François, Jocelyne, n. 1933, romancière, poète". In Christiane P. Makward, Madeleine Cottenet-Hage (ed.). Dictionnaire littéraire des femmes de langue française (in French). Karthala. pp. 250–51. ISBN 978-2-86537-676-6.
- ^ a b c d e f Waelti-Walters, Jennifer R. (2000). "Contrasting Perspectives: François, Best, and Monferrand". Damned women: lesbians in French novels, 1796-1996. McGill-Queen's Press. pp. 188–99. ISBN 978-0-7735-2110-0.
- ^ a b Cordier, Marcel (27 May 2009). "L'Or du temps". Vosges Matin. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
- ^ a b Enjolras, Laurence (1997). "Gomorrah and the Word: But Where Are They?". In Dominique D. Fisher, Lawrence R. Schehr (ed.). Articulations of difference: gender studies and writing in French. Stanford UP. pp. 215–25. ISBN 978-0-8047-2975-8.
- ^ Hughes, Alex (2002). "lesbian/women's writing". In Alex Hughes, Keith Reader (ed.). Encyclopedia of contemporary French culture. CRC Press. pp. 564–68. ISBN 978-0-203-00330-5.
- ^ Heathcote, Owen; Alex Hughes; James S. Williams (1998). Gay signatures: gay and lesbian theory, fiction and film in France, 1945-1995. Berg. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-85973-987-7.
- ^ Schechner, Stephanie (2007). "The Lesbian Body in Motion: Representations of Corporeality and Sexuality in the Novels of Mireille Best". In Renate Günther, Wendy Michallat (ed.). Lesbian inscriptions in Francophone society and culture. Durham Modern Languages. pp. 123–42. ISBN 978-0-907310-62-4.
- ^ a b Decottignies, Jean (1989). Physiologie et mythologie du "féminin". Presses Univ. Septentrion. ISBN 978-2-86531-036-4.
- ^ Stanton, Domna C. (1987). The Female autograph: theory and practice of autobiography from the tenth to the twentieth century. U of Chicago P. p. 211. ISBN 978-0-226-77121-2.
- v
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- e
- 1904 Myriam Harry
- 1905 Romain Rolland
- 1906 André Corthis
- 1907 Colette Yver
- 1908 Édouard Estaunié
- 1909 Edmond Jaloux
- 1910 Marguerite Audoux
- 1911 Louis de Robert
- 1912 Jacques Morel
- 1913 Camille Marbo
- 1914
- 1915
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- 1917 Maurice Larrouy
- 1918 Henri Bachelin
- 1919 Roland Dorgelès
- 1920 Edmond Gojon
- 1921 Raymond Escholier
- 1922 Jacques de Lacretelle
- 1923 Jeanne Galzy
- 1924 Charles Derennes
- 1925 Joseph Delteil
- 1926 Charles Silvestre
- 1927 Marie Le Franc
- 1928 Dominique Dunois
- 1929 Georges Bernanos
- 1930 Marc Chadourne
- 1931 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- 1932 Ramon Fernandez [fr]
- 1933 Geneviève Fauconnier
- 1934 Robert Francis
- 1935 Claude Silve
- 1936 Louise Hervieu
- 1937 Raymonde Vincent
- 1938 Félix de Chazournes
- 1939 Paul Vialar
- 1940
- 1941
- 1942
- 1943
- 1944 Éditions de Minuit (publisher)
- 1945 Anne-Marie Monnet
- 1946 Michel Robida
- 1947 Gabrielle Roy
- 1948 Emmanuel Roblès
- 1949 Maria Le Hardouin
- 1950 Serge Groussard
- 1951 Anne de Tourville
- 1952 Dominique Rolin
- 1953 Zoé Oldenbourg
- 1954 Gabriel Veraldi
- 1955 André Dhôtel
- 1956 François-Régis Bastide
- 1957 Christian Mégret
- 1958 Françoise Mallet-Joris
- 1959 Bernard Privat
- 1960 Louise Bellocq
- 1961 Henri Thomas
- 1962 Yves Berger
- 1963 Roger Vrigny
- 1964 Jean Blanzat
- 1965 Robert Pinget
- 1966 Irène Monesi
- 1967 Claire Etcherelli
- 1968 Marguerite Yourcenar
- 1969 Jorge Semprún
- 1970 François Nourissier
- 1971 Angelo Rinaldi
- 1972 Roger Grenier
- 1973 Michel Dard
- 1974 René-Victor Pilhes
- 1975 Claude Faraggi
- 1976 Marie-Louise Haumont
- 1977 Régis Debray
- 1978 François Sonkin
- 1979 Pierre Moinot
- 1980 Jocelyne François
- 1981 Catherine Hermary-Vieille
- 1982 Anne Hébert
- 1983 Florence Delay
- 1984 Bertrand Visage
- 1985 Hector Bianciotti
- 1986 René Belletto
- 1987 Alain Absire
- 1988 Alexandre Jardin
- 1989 Sylvie Germain
- 1990 Pierrette Fleutiaux
- 1991 Paula Jacques
- 1992 Anne-Marie Garat
- 1993 Marc Lambron
- 1994 Olivier Rolin
- 1995 Emmanuel Carrère
- 1996 Geneviève Brisac
- 1997 Dominique Noguez
- 1998 François Cheng
- 1999 Maryline Desbiolles
- 2000 Camille Laurens
- 2001 Marie NDiaye
- 2002 Chantal Thomas
- 2003 Dai Sijie
- 2004 Jean-Paul Dubois
- 2005 Régis Jauffret
- 2006 Nancy Huston
- 2007 Éric Fottorino
- 2007 Gwenaëlle Aubry
- 2008 Jean-Louis Fournier
- 2010 Patrick Lapeyre
- 2011 Simon Liberati
- 2012 Patrick Deville
- 2013 Léonora Miano
- 2014 Yanick Lahens
- 2015 Christophe Boltanski
- 2016 Marcus Malte
- 2017 Philippe Jaenada
- 2018 Philippe Lançon
- 2019 Sylvain Prudhomme
- 2020 Serge Joncour
- 2021 Clara Dupont-Monod
- 2022 Claudie Hunzinger [fr]
- 2023 Neige Sinno