“Happy is your soul, O poet! The whole universe is reflected in it”
, writes Louise Colet in
Fleurs du Midi
(1836).
From Christine de Pisan, an erudite poetess of the Middle Ages, to Marguerite Yourcenar, the first woman elected to the French Academy in 1980, the fairer sex has greatly contributed to literature.
Noble feelings, sordid inclinations of humanity, sad episodes of History… They have written everything.
Sometimes under a pen name, like Marie Françoise Sophie Nichault de la Valette, better known as Sophie Gay, or Elsa Triolet, also known under the pseudonym Laurent Daniel, due to social obstacles to the publication.
To discover
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From the 16th century, women of the nobility organized literary salons, where Marguerite de Navarre and Marie-Catherine de Pierrevive notably distinguished themselves.
Later, the correspondence that some of them maintained, such as that of Madame de Sévigné or that of George Sand, evolved into a literary genre that is still celebrated today.
Delphine de Girardin, Colette, Simone de Beauvoir, Marguerite Duras… Do you know any French women writers?
Le Figaro
invites you to test your knowledge.