Amable Tastu, born Sabine Casimire Amable Voïart, (30 August 1795André Bellard: ''Pléiade messine'', in ''Mémoires de l'Académie nationale de Metz'', n°59, 1966-1967. - 10 January 1885) was a 19th-century French poet and writer (

femme de lettres The academic discipline of women's writing is a discrete area of literary studies which is based on the notion that the experience of women, historically, has been shaped by their sex, and so women writers by definition are a group worthy of sepa ...

Biography

Amable was born in Metz, northeastern France to Jacques-Philippe Voïart and Jeanne-Amable Bouchotte.Buck, Claire (1992). ''Bloomsbury guide to women's literature''. London: Bloomsbury. .

OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It wa ...

185786618. Four years after her mother died in 1802, her father married Anne-Élisabeth-Élise Petitpain (who became known as

Élise Voïart Élise Voïart, (1786-1866) was a writer and translator from Nancy, France, specializing in historical works, fiction and children's books. She held literary salons at her home when she lived near Paris. Biography Élise was born 10 February 1 ...

), a woman of letters, 30 years his junior, from

Nancy, France Nancy ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Nanzisch'' is the prefecture of the northeastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. It was the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, which was annexed by France under King Louis XV in 1766 and replaced by a pr ...

who shared with Amable her knowledge of English, German and Italian. After an early poem "''Le Narcisse''" (The Narcissus) was published in 1816 by Mercure de France (the ''French Mercury'' gazette), Amable's work was noticed by Adelaïde Dufrénoy who became a patron and with whom she developed a close friendship. Her poetry was praised for its delicacy by the literary critic Sainte-Beuve. In 1816, Amable married Joseph Tastu, a printer in

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

and they had one child. But in 1830, the bankruptcy of her husband's printing business spurred Tastu to support her family by working in the book trade. She produced educational works as well as literary criticisms including guides to Italian and German literature: ''Tableau de la littérature italienne'' (1843), and ''Tableau de la littérature allemande'', respectively. According to Buck, after Amable's husband died in 1849, Tastu "accompanied her son on diplomatic missions to Cyprus, Baghdad, Belgrade and Alexandria, and only returned to France in 1864 when her sight began to fail." Amable died 10 January 1885 in

Palaiseau Palaiseau () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Palaiseau is a sub-prefecture of the Essonne department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Palaiseau. Inhabitants of Palaiseau ar ...

(Essonne) France.

Works

*1821: ''La Chevalerie française'', Ambroise Tardieu, Paris. *1825: ''Ode sur la mort de madame Dufrénoy'', Joseph Tastu, Paris. *1826: ''Poésies'', Joseph Tastu, Paris,. *1829: ''Chroniques de France'', Paris, Delangle Frères. *1832: ''Soirées littéraires de Paris'', Janet, Paris. *1835: ''Poésies nouvelles'', Paris, Denain et Delamare. *1835: ''Œuvres de Madame Tastu'', in 2 volumes. Brussels, E. Laurent. *1836: ''Prose'', J. Jamar, Brussels,. *1837: ''Cours d’histoire de France. Lectures tirées des chroniques et des mémoires, avec un précis de l’histoire de France'', Lavigne, Paris. *1838: ''Chroniques de France'', Didier, Paris. *1842: ''Alpes et Pyrénées ; arabesques littéraires. Composées de nouvelles historiques, anecdotes, descriptions, chroniques et récits divers'', P.-C. Lehuby, Paris. *1843: ''Tableau de la littérature allemande depuis l’établissement du christianisme jusqu’à nos jours'',

Alfred Mame Alfred-Henry-Armand Mame (b. at Tours, 17 August 1811; d. at Tours, 12 April 1893) was a French printer and publisher. Mame, publishers The founder of the Mame firm, Charles Mame, printed two newspapers at Angers in the last quarter of the eight ...

, Tours, rééd 1858. *1843: ''Les femmes célèbres, contemporaines françaises''. Le Bailly, libraire, Paris. *1845: ''La Normandie historique, pittoresque et monumentale'', P.-C. Lehuby, Paris. *1846: ''Voyage en France'', Alfred Mame et cie, Tours.''Voyage en France'' par Mme Amable Tastu
on Gallica *1848: ''Éducation maternelle : simples leçons d’une mère à ses enfants'', Didier, Paris. *1858: ''Poésies complètes'', Didier, Paris. *1870: ''Tableau de la littérature italienne depuis l’établissement du christianisme jusqu’à nos jours'', Alfred Mame, Tours.

Bibliography

* Émile Albert Babeau, ''Madame Amable Tastu ; sa vie et son œuvre'', Toulouse, Douladoure, 1945. * Ferdinand Des Robert, ''Madame Tastu (Sabine-Casimir-Amable), 1798-1885'', Nancy, Berger-Levrault, 1887. * Afifa Marzouki, ''Amable Tastu, une poétesse à l’époque romantique'', Tunis, Publications de la Faculté des lettres de la Manouba, 1997 * Catherine Poussard-Joly, ''Madame Tastu ou La muse oubliée : Biographie'', Palaiseau, Société historique de Palaiseau, 1995 * Maurice Souriau, ''Grandeur et décadence de Mme. Amable Tastu'', Paris, Société française d’imprimerie et de librairie, 1910. *Marie Daffini, « L'amour de Madame Tastu pour Metz et la Lorraine » in ''La Nouvelle Revue'', Lorraine, n°35 (December 2015–January 2016) *André Bellard, « Pléiade messine » in ''Mémoires de l'Académie nationale de Metz'', n°59, 1966–1967.

References

John Rylands Library The John Rylands Research Institute and Library is a late-Victorian neo-Gothic building on Deansgate in Manchester, England. It is part of the University of Manchester. The library, which opened to the public in 1900, was founded by Enriqu ...

, Manchester. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tastu, Amable 19th-century French writers French women poets French opera librettists 1798 births Writers from Metz 1885 deaths 19th-century women writers

Biography

Works

Bibliography

References

External links