author
Marguerite-Yerta Méléra
1889–1965
A versatile French-language writer shaped by the Jura bernois, Marguerite-Yerta Méléra moved between journalism, fiction, literary criticism, translation, and children’s literature. She is especially remembered for her writings on Arthur Rimbaud and for novels inspired by the rural and watchmaking communities of the Jura.
1 Audiobook
Six Women and the Invasion
by Marguerite-Yerta Méléra, Gabrielle Yerta
About the author
Born in the United States as Yertha Marguerite Juillerat, she spent her formative years in the Jura region of Switzerland before studying in Delémont and traveling in the United States, England, and Germany. She later settled in Paris and married the naval officer, orientalist, writer, and poet César Méléra, who died in 1918 during the First World War.
Méléra began publishing during the war with Les Six Femmes et l’Invasion, a work about civilian life under invasion. She worked as a journalist for Excelsior and contributed to numerous newspapers and magazines, while also publishing novels, essays, translations, poetry, and books for young readers. Her studies of Arthur Rimbaud brought her lasting recognition, and in December 1960 she became the first woman elected to the Institut jurassien des sciences, des lettres et des arts. Bibliographic authorities generally record her dates as 1880–1965, although some older catalogs list 1889 as her birth year.