Raymonde Vincent (; 23 September 1908 – 5 January 1985) was a French writer. She won the

Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French List of literary awards, 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 (poetry), verse by male ...

in 1937 for her novel '.

Biography

A native of Berry, Raymonde Vincent was born near Luant near

Châteauroux Châteauroux ( ; ; ) is the capital city of the French department of Indre, central France and the second-largest town in the province of Berry, after Bourges. Its residents are called ''Castelroussins'' () in French. Climate Châteauroux te ...

in Indre, into a family of farmers. After the death of her mother, she kept house for her father, a '' métayer'' operating a farm belonging to a castle. Apart from learning the catechism, her formal education was neglected. At seventeen she left for

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where she found a job in commerce while posing as a model for artists, among them Alberto Giacometti. Making up for her lack of formal education, she took an active interest in music, literature and the arts, frequenting literary circles and becoming familiar with writers such as Louis Aragon, Georges Bernanos and Jean Giraudoux. In 1926, she met Albert Béguin, a Swiss literary scholar specializing in

German Romanticism German Romanticism () was the dominant intellectual movement of German-speaking countries in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, influencing philosophy, aesthetics, literature, and criticism. Compared to English Romanticism, the German vari ...

who would become a renowned essayist, critic and translator. Béguin and Vincent married in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in 1929. It was nostalgia for her peasant past that inspired her most outstanding work ''Campagne'', for which the

was awarded to her in 1937. She continued to write several novels, such as ''Blanche'' (1939), ''Elisabeth'' (1943), ''Les noces du matin'' (1950) and ''La couronne des innocents'' (1962); none of these, however, reached the acclaim of ''Campagne''. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Vincent and her husband Béguin were involved with the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

. After the war, Vincent divorced Béguin; while the latter was on his deathbed in 1957, she travelled to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, where he then lived, to bid him farewell. She then definitively relocated to her native Indre and lived in

Saint-Chartier Saint-Chartier () is a commune in the Indre department in central France. The writer Raymonde Vincent (1908–1985), winner of the Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French List of literary awards, literary prize awarded each year by an ex ...

until her death in 1985.

Work

* 1937: ''Campagne'' ( Éditions Stock); awarded the

* 1939: ''Blanche'', (Éditions Stock) * 1943: ''Elisabeth'' (Éditions Stock) * 1945: ''Seigneur, retirez-moi d'entre les morts'' (Éditions Egloff) * 1950: ''Les noces du matin'' ( Éditions du Seuil) * 1962: ''La couronne des innocents'' (Éditions du Seuil) * 1977: ''Les Terres heureuses'' ( Éditions Julliard) * 1982: ''Le Temps d'apprendre à vivre'' (Éditions de La Bouinotte) * 1991: ''Hélène'', series "Voyage immobile" (Éditions Christian Pirot) (posthumous)

External links

''Campagne''
on Babelio
Raymonde Vincent à Luant
on Éditions Alexandrines

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vincent, Raymonde 1908 births 1985 deaths 20th-century French non-fiction writers 20th-century French women writers Prix Femina winners People from Indre