author
Louise Colet
1810–1876
A prizewinning French poet and novelist, she made her name in the lively literary world of 19th-century Paris. Her work, her salon, and her long correspondence with Gustave Flaubert keep her story vivid today.
2 Audiobooks
Enfances célèbres
by Louise Colet
Lui: Roman contemporain
by Louise Colet
About the author
Born Louise Révoil in Aix-en-Provence, she later became known as Louise Colet and built a literary career in Paris as a poet, novelist, and memoirist. Her first poetry collection, Fleurs du Midi, appeared in 1836, and she went on to win several prizes from the Académie française, a rare achievement for a woman writer of her time.
She was part of the center of French literary life, hosting a salon and moving among major writers and thinkers. She is still often remembered for her relationship with Gustave Flaubert, whose letters to her have become famous, but she was also a serious and ambitious author in her own right, publishing poetry, novels, travel writing, and autobiographical works.
Her writing was shaped by Romanticism and by a strong sense of personal voice. Although her reputation was long overshadowed by the men around her, Louise Colet remains an important figure for readers interested in 19th-century French literature and the place women claimed within it.