an author with turbid sensuality, for whom the only
thing that counted in life was satisf. of her lower
instincts". Wmn are not allowed to have instincts except maternalist.

Can one imagine a literary critic saying such
a thing on about Henry Miller, for instance ? Or pornography
writers
which Colette was
not !

When Colette died in 1953, the Cath. Church
refused religious funeral to this old lady of 81
who because of her long past reputation.

She was always judged by after her private life
as if it was the most important topic for a wmn writer.
Jean Cocteau was one of the 1rst to consider that
Colette was a great author and had done a lot in the way of describing
real feminine nature : "She was the first, he wrote,
who dared speak of her belly". And I think he
touched the point : it was not tolerated from a
woman to speak of her belly.

François Mauriac wrote : "Through the magic of her
style, Colette drags us into the sewer."

Had she been a masc. author, she wld
have been judged as a talented writer with an
unconventional life. Been a womn, she was
but a shameless, dissolute person, who hap-
pened to write a few books !

That moral judgement has paralyzed
many. Imagne a wmn leading Gauguin's
life, or Utrillo's, or Verlaine's ? If a mother of a
4 children had suddenly decided to run away
and live in Tahiti to paint - as did Gauguin -
she would have no doubt been brought back
home by the police and if she insisted shut up in an insane
asylum ! (happened to Camille )
CLAUDEL