Catherine Marthe Louise Pozzi (13 July 1882 – 3 December 1934) was a French poet and woman of letters.

Early life

Catherine Pozzi was born in an aristocratic and bourgeois environment at the end of the 19th century, to

Samuel Pozzi Samuel Jean de Pozzi (3 October 1846 – 13 June 1918) was a French surgeon and gynecologist. He was also interested in anthropology and neurology. He is remembered today for John Singer Sargent's portrait of him. Early life Samuel-Jean Pozzy ...

, surgeon and gynecologist, and Thérèse Loth-Cazalis. Her well-educated family was friends with artists and writers, including

José-Maria de Heredia José-Maria de Heredia (22 November 1842 – 3 October 1905) was a Cuban-born French Parnassian poet. He was the fifteenth member elected for seat 4 of the Académie française in 1894. Biography Early years Heredia was born at Fortuna C ...

and

Paul Bourget Paul Charles Joseph Bourget (; 2 September 185225 December 1935) was a French poet, novelist and critic. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times. Life Paul Bourget was born in Amiens in the Somme ''département'' of Picar ...

. From a young age she was interested in music, and at age 11 started keeping a journal. She studied for a year in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

. At the age of 19, she read the published diary of

Marie Bashkirtseff Marie Bashkirtseff (born Mariya Konstantinovna Bashkirtseva, russian: Мария Константиновна Башки́рцева; 1858–1884) was a Ukrainian artist from the Russian Empire who worked in Paris, France. She died aged 25. Li ...

, and it had a profound effect upon her, spurring her to write intensely in her own journal. She began studying history, philosophy, religion, math, and sciences as the student of

Marie Jaëll Marie Jaëll (née Trautmann) (17 August 1846 – 4 February 1925) was a French pianist, composer, and pedagogue. Marie Jaëll composed pieces for piano, concertos, quartets, and others, She dedicated her cello concerto to Jules Delsart, and was ...

. In 1918, at the age of 37, she passed her baccalaureate. In that year, her father was murdered by one of his former patients who was suffering from a paranoid delusion.

Career

Catherine Pozzi was particularly known for six withering poems, published in 1935 (''Mesures''), and which she considered her literary testament: "Ave", "Vale", "Scopolamine", "Nova", "Maya" and "Nyx". This last (''Nyx'' means "night" in Greek) was composed on 5 November 1934, shortly before her death. She also left an anonymous autobiography: ''Agnès'' (NRF, 1927), and an unfinished philosophical essay: ''Peau d’Ame''. Some scientific articles of hers appeared in ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French Newspaper of recor ...

''. More recently, the publication of her ''Journal'' (1913–1934) and ''Journal de jeunesse'' (1893–1906) renewed interest in her. Her published correspondence with

Paul Valéry Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, mu ...

represents only a small portion of their exchanged letters. Some of Pozzi's poems evoke those of

Louise Labé Louise Charlin Perrin Labé, ( 1524 – 25 April 1566), also identified as La Belle Cordière (The Beautiful Ropemaker), was a feminist French poet of the Renaissance born in Lyon, the daughter of wealthy ropemaker Pierre Charly and his second wif ...

, but their effect and tension seem to have little in common with the work of the 16th century. Friends of hers included

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recog ...

Anna de Noailles Anna, Comtesse Mathieu de Noailles (Anna Elisabeth Bibesco-Bassaraba de Brancovan) (15 November 1876 – 30 April 1933) was a French writer of Romanian and Greek descent, a poet and a socialist feminist. Biography Personal life Born Princess ...

Jean Paulhan Jean Paulhan (2 December 1884 – 9 October 1968) was a French writer, literary critic and publisher, director of the literary magazine ''Nouvelle Revue Française'' (NRF) from 1925 to 1940 and from 1946 to 1968. He was a member (Seat 6, 1963–68 ...

(editor of ''

La Nouvelle Revue française LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

''),

Colette Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known mononymously as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her ...

Henri de Régnier Henri-François-Joseph de Régnier (28 December 1864 – 23 May 1936) was a French symbolist poet, considered one of the most important of France during the early 20th century. Life and works He was born in Honfleur (Calvados) on 28 December 18 ...

Pierre Jean Jouve Pierre Jean Jouve (11 October 1887 – 8 January 1976) was a French writer, novelist and poet.Michael Sheringham, 'Jouve, Pierre-Jean', ''Oxford Companion to French Literature''Onlineat answers.com He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literat ...

Personal life

At age 25, she married the popular dramatist

Édouard Bourdet Édouard Bourdet (Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 26 October 1887 – Paris, 17 January 1945) was a 20th-century French playwright. He was married to the poet, Catherine Pozzi; their son was Claude Bourdet. Plays *1910: ''Le Rubicon'' *1912: ''La Cage ouv ...

. In 1909 their son

Claude Claude may refer to: __NOTOC__ People and fictional characters * Claude (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Claude (surname), a list of people * Claude Lorrain (c. 1600–1682), French landscape painter, draughtsman and etcher ...

(later a member of the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

) was born, who married the Russian tennis player

Ida Adamoff , country = , residence = , birth_date = , birth_place = Moscow, Russian Empire , death_date = , death_place ...

. Around 1910, she began to exhibit symptoms of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...

, from which she suffered until her death. She began in 1920 a tumultuous relationship with

, which lasted eight years and gave rise to important correspondence. The rift between them distanced her from the Paris salons and caused her to have a terrible feeling of isolation. She died in Paris on 3 December 1934, after illness with tuberculosis as well as

morphine Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies ('' Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. Ther ...

and

laudanum Laudanum is a tincture of opium containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight (the equivalent of 1% morphine). Laudanum is prepared by dissolving extracts from the opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum Linnaeus'') in alcohol (ethanol). R ...

use.

Bibliography

Works

* Très haut amour (Poèmes et autres textes), Gallimard Poésie. * Poèmes, Gallimard / Métamorphoses. * Catherine Pozzi, Œuvre poétique, éd. Lawrence Joseph, Paris, La Différence, « Littérature », 1988. * ''Agnès'', Paris, La Différence, 1988, coll. "Minos", 2002. * Peau d'âme, prés. Lawrence Joseph, Paris, La Différence, « Philosophia perennis », 1990. * Catherine Pozzi, Rainer Maria Rilke, Correspondance 1924-1925, prés. Lawrence Joseph, Paris, La Différence, « Littérature », 1990. * Catherine Pozzi, Jean Paulhan, Correspondance 1926-1934, éd. Françoise Simonet-Tenant, Paris, C. Paulhan, « Pour mémoire », 1999. * Catherine Pozzi et Jean Paulhan, Correspondance 1926-1934, Ed. Claire Paulhan 1999. * La flamme et la cendre : Correspondance (Paul Valéry, Catherine Pozzi, Lawrence Joseph). Gallimard / Blanche 2006, 830 p. * Catherine Pozzi, Journal de jeunesse : 1893-1906, éd. Claire Paulhan, * Catherine Pozzi, Journal : 1913-1934, éd. et annot. Claire Paulhan, préf. Lawrence Joseph. Paris, Ramsay, 1987 / Seghers, 1990 / C. Paulhan, « Pour mémoire », 1999. Réédité chez

Éditions Phébus The éditions Phébus is a French publishing house established in 1976 by Jean-Pierre Sicre and taken over in 2003 by the . Catalogue Phébus publishes a catalog of French and foreign literature that is both contemporary (Julie Otsuka, Elif Sha ...

(édition augmentée, 798 p) :

Biographies

* Lawrence Joseph : Catherine Pozzi, Une robe couleur du temps, Ed. de la Différence, 1988. * Pierre Boutang, Karin Pozzi et la quête de l'immortalité, Paris, La Différence, « Mobile matière », 1991. * Mireille Diaz-Florian: Catherine Pozzi. La vocation à la nuit. Préface de Claire Paulhan. Collection: "Le cercle des poètes disparus"Éditions Aden.2008

References

External links

Photo of Catherine Pozzi

Photo of Catherine Pozzi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pozzi, Catherine 1882 births 1934 deaths Writers from Paris French women poets French autobiographers Alumni of the University of Oxford 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis French letter writers Women letter writers French diarists Women diarists 20th-century French poets 20th-century French women writers Tuberculosis deaths in France Drug-related deaths in France 19th-century letter writers 20th-century letter writers