Colette, << koh LEHT >> (1873-1954), was a French author. She was one of her country’s few modern novelists who expressed a closeness to nature in her writing. Her mother had taught her tenderness for every plant and animal, and Colette expressed these feelings in her writing. Her style is sensitive and sensual and brings out the perfumes and colors of her native region of Burgundy. She also portrayed Parisian life.
Colette is especially noted for her insights into women’s struggles for independence and identity. But her characters also reflect her broader interest in stages of female development, from adolescence through young womanhood, motherhood, and aging. Her novels include anecdotes from her life in the early 1900’s.
Colette was born Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette on Jan. 28, 1873, in St.-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, near Auxerre. Her first works were four autobiographical novels (1900-1904) about a girl named Claudine. Colette’s other novels include The Vagabond (1910), Cheri (1920), The Ripening Seed (1923), Sido (1929), The Cat (1933), and Gigi (1944). She died on Aug. 3, 1954.
