Colette Yver (28 July 1874 – 17 March 1953) was a French Roman Catholic writer from

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, the winner of the 1907

Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine ''La Vie heureuse'' (today known as '' Femina''). The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury. They reward French-language works written ...

for her work ''Princesses de science''.

Biography

The daughter of a civil servant transferred to Rouen shortly after her birth, Colette Yver was a prolific writer who began publishing, from the age of eighteen, novels for the "Bibliothèque morale de la jeunesse" at in Rouen. She would publish about a book (novels, essays, or

hagiographies A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...

) a year for the next fifty years of her life. Her works are representative of the anti-feminist fictions which abounded under the Third Republic. Intended for a female audience, these types of novels depicted emancipated women confronted with multiple misfortunes that they would not have suffered had they chosen life at home. In 1907, she won the

prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine ''La Vie heureuse'' (today known as '' Femina''). The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury. They reward French-language works written ...

(then called prix ''Vie Heureuse'', présided by

Jeanne Lapauze Jeanne Lapauze, née Loiseau (1860–1920) was a French poet and novelist who used the pen name Daniel Lesueur. Biography She was born in the vicinity of Paris. Her volume of poems, ''Fleurs d'avril'' (1882), was crowned by the Académie fran� ...

) for ''Princesses de science'', A book referring to the difficulties encountered by women in reconciling family and scientific careers. In 1913 she entered the jury of this award, of which she was long the dean, until 1951. In 1917, she was admitted to the Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Rouen. Her sister Marguerite (1869-1961), wife of Dr. Guillaume, a young widow with two children in 1896, a professor of French until an advanced age in free education, gave ' tales for children under the pseudonym "Hélène Avril". She is buried at

cimetière monumental de Rouen The Rouen Monumental Cemetery (french: Cimetière monumental de Rouen) is the most important cemetery of the Norman city of Rouen, opened in 1828 and situated to the North-East of the town-centre. The entrance gate, the chapel and the monumental cro ...

next to her brother, painter

Édouard de Bergevin Édouard de Bergevin (18 July 1861 – 6 December 1925) was a French painter of the Rouen school. He was novelist Colette Yver's brother. He studied at the academy of painting of Rouen, with Frechon, Angrand and Joseph Delattre for fellow stud ...

. She was made a chevalier of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

(decree 11 August 1931).

Essays, novels

*1907: ''Princesses de science'', Calmann-Lévy, (crowned by the Prix Vie Heureuse, previous name of the Prix Femina) *1911: ''Le Métier de Roi'', Calmann-Lévy *1916
''Comment s'en vont les Reines''
Calmann-Lévy, *1919: ''Les cousins riches'' *1920: ''Dans le jardin du féminisme'' *1909: ''Les Dames du Palais'' *1926: A''ujourd'hui...'' *1928: ''La Bergerie'' *1908: ''Les Cervelines'', Calmann-lévy *1929: ''Femmes d'aujourd'hui'' *1931: ''Vincent ou La Solitude'' *1932: ''Le Vote des femmes'' *1912: ''Un coin du voile'' *1913
''Les sables mouvants''
in '' Revue des Deux mondes'' *1928: ''Le mystère des béatitudes'' *1917: ''Mirabelle de Pampelune *1928: ''Le festin des autres'' *1928: ''L'homme et le dieu'' *1928: ''Vous serez comme des dieux'' *1928: ''Haudequin de Lyon''

Bibliography

* Léon Abensour, ''Histoire générale du féminisme des origines à nos jours'', Delagrave, Paris, 1921 ; 1979 . * Michel Manson, ''Colette Yver, jeune auteure pour la jeunesse de 1892 à 1900'', in "Cahiers Robinsons", n° 5, 2004, ''Juvenilia (écritures précoces)'', issue directed by Guillemette Tison, . * Rebecca Rogers and , La fabrique des filles
''L'éducation des filles de Jules Ferry à la pilule''
Paris, Éditions Textuel, 2010

External links

Colette Yvert
on Babelio {{DEFAULTSORT:Yver, Colette 20th-century French non-fiction writers Writers from Normandy 20th-century French women writers French Roman Catholic writers Prix Femina winners 1874 births People from Maine-et-Loire 1953 deaths Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur