x Claudine Series
1900
Colette
N/A
Lesbians, Academia
Open Access
I already felt ready to love her so much, so very much, with all my irrational heart. Yes, I’ve known perfectly well, for a long time, that I have an irrational heart. But knowing it doesn’t stop me in the least.
Summary
Autobiographical series in five installments: Claudine à l’école (1900), Claudine à Paris (1901), Claudine en ménage (1902), Claudine s’en va (1903), La Maison de Claudine (1922). Claudine's headmistress has an affair with a female teacher and male doctor, and Claudine later develops a relationship with another woman while married to a man.
More Info
Written by Colette as Willy, except for La Retraite sentimentale (1907) by Colette Willy.. La Maison de Claudine (1922), despite having the Claudine name and also a fictionalization of Colette's childhood, has no relation to the series.
Claudine à l’école (1900) Paris: Société d'Éditions Littéraires & Artistiques. 253pp.
Claudine at School (1900) London : Secker and Warburg. 286pp. Tr. Antonia White.
Fifteen year-old Claudine's life at her Motigny school, her observation of others' romances, and her romance with the headmistress' assistant, Aimée Lanthenay.
Claudine à Paris (1901)
Claudine in Paris (1958) London : Secker and Warburg. Tr. Antonia White.
Claudine, now 17, moves to Paris and embraces sensuality, braced by the encouragement of her sex-driven maid and by her dominance of a former lover, the girl Luce. She attempts to seduce her gay male cousin before falling in love with the boy's father, Renaud.
Claudine en ménage (1902)
Read Now: Google (French), Archive (Alt) (English)
Claudine Married (1960) Tr. Antonia White
aka The Indulgent Husband.
Claudine and Renaud marry and return from their honeymoon as a couple distanced by contrasting age and values. Within the knowledge and permission of her husband, Claudine begins an affair with Rézi, a character based on Georgie Raoul-Duval, a real-life lover of Colette and Willy.
Claudine s’en va (1903)
Read Now: Archive (French), Archive (Alt) (English)
Claudine and Annie (1962) Tr. Antonia White
The Innocent Wife (1930) New York : Farrar & Rinehard. Tr. Frederick A. Blossom. Illus. J. O'H. Cosgrave, II.
The protagonist shifts to Annie, a woman bound in a crumbling marriage to a cruel childhood love. Through her sister-in-law's social circle, she becomes friends with Claudine and
Georgie Raoul-Duval returns in the character of Suzy.
La Retraite sentimentale (1907) Paris : Mercure de France. 265pp.
Read Now: Archive (English), Google (French), Hathitrust (French)
Retreat from Love (1974) London : Owen. 226pp. Tr. Margaret Crosland.
Volumes 1-4: Archive (English)
Content & Trigger Warnings
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Editions
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