Christiane Rochefort (17 July 1917 – 24 April 1998) was a French

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

writer. She was born into a left-wing working class Parisian family; her father joined the

International Brigades The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existed f ...

during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

. Rochefort worked as a journalist and spent fifteen years as a press attaché to the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

before publishing her first novel, '' Le Repos du guerrier'' ('' The Warrior's Rest''), in 1958. Like several of her later novels, ''Le Repos du guerrier'' was a bestseller; in 1962 it was adapted into a popular film directed by

Roger Vadim Roger Vadim Plemiannikov (; 26 January 1928 – 11 February 2000) was a French screenwriter, film director and producer, as well as an author, artist and occasional actor. His best-known works are visually lavish films with erotic qualities, su ...

and starring

Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot ( ; ; born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a former French actress, singer and model. Famous for portraying sexually emancipated characters with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the ...

. Her novels are divided between

social realist Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...

satires set in present-day France and

utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', describing a fictional island society ...

dystopia A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...

n fantasies. She won the

Prix Médicis The Prix Médicis is a French literary award given each year in November. It was founded in 1958 by and . It is awarded to an author whose "fame does not yet match his talent." The award goes to a work of fiction in the French language. In 19 ...

in 1988. Rochefort's novels also have strong sexual elements.

Novels

*''Cendres et or" (1956) *''Le repos du guerrier'' (1958) – ''Warrior's Rest'' (translated by Lowell Bair, 1959) *''Les petits enfants du siècle'' (1961) – ''Children of Heaven'' (translated by Linda Asher, 1962)/''Josyane and the Welfare'' (translated by

Edward Hyams Edward Solomon Hyams (30 September 1910 – 25 November 1975) was a British gardener and horticulturalist, historian, novelist and writer, and anarchist. He is known for his writings as a French scholar and socialist historian, and as a gardene ...

, 1963) *''Les stances à Sophie'' (1963) - ''Cat's Don't Care for Money'' (translated by Helen Eustis, 1965) *''Une rose pour

Morrison Morrison may refer to: People * Morrison (surname), people with the Scottish surname Morrison * Morrison Heady (1829–1915), American poet * Morrison Mann MacBride (1877–1938), Canadian merchant Places in the United States * Morrison, Colorad ...

'' (1966) (dedicated to Mister

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

) *''Printemps au parking'' (1969) *''Archaos, ou le Jardin Etincelant'' (1972) *''Encore heureux qu'on va vers l'été'' (1975) *''Quand tu vas chez les femmes'' (1982) *''La porte du fond'' (1988)

(dedicated to

Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (born March 28, 1941 as Jeffrey Lloyd Masson) is an American author. Masson is best known for his conclusions about Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis. In his ''The Assault on Truth'' (1984), Masson argues that Freud may ha ...

) *''Conversations sans paroles'' (1997)

References

Bibliography

Jean-Louis de Rambures Jean-Louis Vicomte de Bretizel Rambures (; 19 May 1930 – 20 May 2006) was a French journalist, author, translator of literature, literary critic, and cultural attaché. He introduced contemporary German literature to a broader French audience by ...

, "Comment travaillent les écrivains", Paris 1978 (interview with Ch. Rochefort, in French)

External links

* Christiane Rochefort
''Les enfants d'abord''

* Margaret-Anne Hutton
''Countering The Culture: The Novels of Christiane Rochefort''
* Isabelle Constant
''Les mots étincelants de Christiane Rochefort: langages d'utopie''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rochefort, Christiane French feminist writers French erotica writers 1917 births 1998 deaths Prix Médicis winners Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 20th-century French women writers Women erotica writers Signatories of the 1971 Manifesto of the 343

Novels

See also

References

Bibliography

External links