Valérie Valère
Valérie Valère | |
---|---|
Born | 1 November 1961 Paris, France |
Died | 17 December 1981 Saint-Maur-sur-le-Loir, France |
Nationality | French |
Valérie Valère was the pseudonym of Valérie Samama (1 November 1961 – 17 December 1981), a French writer.
She published her first work, the book , in 1978 after spending four months confined to a psychiatric hospital for anorexia nervosa. The book is an autobiographical account covering her relationship with her abusive parents, experiences as a child in French society, and in particular her institutionalized years.[1][2] Critics praised her style of writing and her expressive, philosophically sophisticated articulations of systemic mistreatment and misunderstanding.[2] Scholar Richard A. Mazzara likens her work to Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Hermann Hesse, André Gide, and Virginia Woolf.[2]
Life[]
Valérie Samama was born in the 15th arrondissement of Paris to a family of Tunisian origin.
At age 13, after a family shock,[3] she was committed to a psychiatric hospital for anorexia nervosa.[4] Two years later she wrote a book about it, Le Pavillon des enfants fous ("The mad children's ward"), published in 1978 by Editions Stock.[4] Elle avoue dans l'émission Apostrophes de Bernard Pivot du 27 avril 1979 qu'elle a reçu dix lettres de refus d'éditeurs avant que Stock accepte de publier son manuscrit[5] Her book criticizes the hospital setting in which she spent four months, describing it as coercive, humiliating and dehumanizing for the patients.[6]
In parallel with her studies at the lycée Racine in Paris, she took courses in tightrope walking at the school of Annie Fratellini.[5] She saw the circus, like writing, as a way to escape reality.[5] After obtaining her baccalauréat, she left to study at the Sorbonne.[4]
With the success of her first novel, she rented an apartment where she wrote Malika ou un Jour comme un autre ("Malika or a day like any other"), published in 1979, et Obsession blanche ("White obsession") the next year.[3] In Malika she tells of a difficult relation between and a brother and a sister whom the adults bring to death, written from the point of view of the brother.[7]
She acted in two films, Pierrette (1977) by and Équilibres (1979) de Marion Hänsel.[8]
She took her life at age 21, on 17 December 1982.[4]
In 2001, wrote the first biography of Valérie Valère, Un seul regard m'aurait suffi ("One look would have been enough for me"),[9] published by Perrin with an unpublished text by the author, Laisse pleurer la pluie sur tes yeux ("Let the rain weep on your eyes"), contributed by its historic publisher .[3]
Published works[]
- Le Pavillon des enfants fous (1978)
- Malika ou un jour comme tous les autres (1980)
- Obsession blanche (1981)
References[]
- ^ Viémont, Laurence (2012). "Valérie Valère, écrivain géniale décédée à 21 ans". Salon litteraire (in French).
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Mazzara, Richard A. (1987). "Existentialism and Escape to Essence in the Works of Valérie Valère". The French Review. 61 (1): 65–70. JSTOR 393692.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Besson, Patrick (2014-02-05). Mes vieux papiers (in French). Fayard. ISBN 9782213683799. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Valérie Valère, écrivain géniale décédée à 21 ans" (in French). 2012-09-27. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c "Les premiers romans - Apostrophes". INA. 1979-04-27. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
- ^ Wilkins, Dr Jean (2012-03-01). Adolescentes anorexiques: Plaidoyer pour une approche clinique humaine (in French). Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal. ISBN 9782760627628. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
- ^ "La magie de Valérie Valère" (in French). 1981-06-19. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
- ^ "Valérie Valère". IMDb. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
- ^ Inovagora. "Valérie Valère : Un seul regard m'aurait suffi - Bibliothèque - Médiathèque - Comment agir ? - Psycom". www.psycom.org (in French). Retrieved 2018-10-26.
- 1961 births
- 1981 suicides
- 20th-century French non-fiction writers
- 20th-century French women writers
- 1981 deaths