Edmée de La Rochefoucauld (1896-1991) was a French activist for women’s voting rights and a writer, sometimes using the pseudonym Gilbert Mauge.

Early life

Edmée Frisch de Fels was born in Paris, France on April 28, 1895, the daughter of Edmund, Comte de Fels, director of the ''

Revue de Paris ''Revue de Paris'' was a French literary magazine founded in 1829 by Louis-Désiré Véron. After two years Véron left the magazine to head the Paris Opera The Paris Opera ( ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was found ...

'', and Comtesse de Fels, née Jeanne Lebaudy, who was a founder of the Union Nationale pour le Vote des Femmes (UNVF). On December 27, 1917 she married Jean, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, heir to La Rochefoucauld ducal title. They had two sons and two daughters."La Rochefoucauld, Edmée, Duchesse de (1895–1991)." Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages, edited by Anne Commire and Deborah Klezmer, vol. 1, Yorkin Publications, 2007, p. 1088. Gale eBooks, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2588813593/GVRL?u=wikipedia&sid=GVRL&xid=c53cdaba. Accessed 14 Apr. 2021.

Career

De La Rochefoucauld was a Catholic leader in French women’s efforts to win the right to vote. She became an officer in the UNVF in 1927 and became its president in 1930. In 1927, she founded and directed the UNVF's periodical ''

L'Union nationale des femmes ''L'Union nationale des femmes'' (National Union of Women) was a conservative French-language feminist journal published quarterly in Paris by the Union nationale pour le vote des femmes (National Union for the Vote for Women) (UNVF). The period ...

'' (National Union for the Vote for Women). For more than 60 years she was also a central figure in French world of letters, publishing her first book ''Fonction de X'' in 1926. In 1938, she reported on

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. In 1944, she became a member of jury for the

Prix Fémina The Prix Femina is a French literary prize awarded each year by an exclusively female jury. The prize, which was established in 1904, is awarded to French-language works written in prose or verse by male or female writers, and is announced on ...

. In the 1950s, she published studies of

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, Greek and Bulgarian descent, a poet and a socialist feminist. She was the only female poet ...

, poet Leon-Paul Fargue,

Yvan Goll Yvan Goll (also written Iwan Goll, Ivan Goll; born Isaac Lang; 29 March 1891 – 27 February 1950) was a French-German poet who was bilingual and wrote in both French and German. He had close ties to both German expressionism and to French surr ...

, and

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, m ...

. She also assisted her brother André de Fels who had become publisher of ''

,'' from 1961 to 1970. She was elected to the Belgian Royal Academy of the French Language and Literature in 1962 and later that decade, published a guide to '' Cahiers of Paul Valéry'' (1964–1966). She published her last book in 1989, at age 94. It was the final installment in her three-volume memoir entitled ''Flashes.''

Death and legacy

She died in Paris on September 20, 1991. She was 96. Beginning in 1990, the Prix Edmée-de-La-Rochefoucauld is awarded annually to a first-time novelist. As of 2020, the prize included an award of 3000 Euros.

Awards and honours

She was a commander of the

French Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...

Publications

* ''Nombres'' (1926) * ''Faust et Marguerites'' (1927) *''La Vie humaine'' (1928) *''Spanish Women'' (1938) *''La Femme et ses droits'' (1939) *''Les Moralistes de l'intelligence'' (1945) *''La Vie commode aux peuples'' (1947) *''Vus d'un autre monde'' (1950) *''Plus loin que Bételgeuse'' (1952) *''Choix de poèmes'' (1955) *''Menton'' (1962) *''La Nature et l'esprit'' (1965) *''Femmes dramaturges'' (1968) *''Courts Métrages'' (1970) *''Spectateurs'' (1972) *''L'Acquiescement'' (1978) *''Courts Métrages II'' (1980) *''Flashes'' (3 vols., 1982–89)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:de La Rochefoucauld, Edmee 1991 deaths French duchesses French suffragists French women writers 20th-century French women 1896 births 20th-century pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers