Danielle Collobert was a French

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poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and

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Biography

Danielle Collobert was born in

Rostrenen Rostrenen (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department and Brittany region of northwestern France. Geography Neighbouring communes Rostrenen is border by Mellionnec to the south, Plouguernevel to the east, Kergrist-Moëlou to the nor ...

Côtes-d'Armor The Côtes-d'Armor (, ; ; br, Aodoù-an-Arvor, ), formerly known as Côtes-du-Nord ( br, Aodoù-an-Hanternoz, link=no, ), are a department in the north of Brittany, in northwestern France. In 2019, it had a population of 600,582.

on 23 July 1940. Her mother, a teacher, was obliged to live in a neighbouring village, and Collobert thus grew up at her grandparents' house, where her mother and her aunt would return whenever they could. Both entered into the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

. In 1961, having abandoned her

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

studies, Collobert worked at the Galerie Hautefeuille in Paris, where she wrote "Totem" and many other texts that would three years later be part of her book ''Meurtre'' (''Murder''). In April of that year, she published, at her own expense, ''Chants des Guerres'' (''War Songs'') with publisher Pierre-Jean Oswald. Some years later, she destroyed the early editions of this, her first published book. Collobert was active in the FLN and involved in missions in Algeria. After a self-imposed exile in Italy from May to August 1962, she returned to collaborate with the Algerian magazine ''Révolution Africaine'' until it stopped being published during the Presidency of

Ahmed Ben Bella Ahmed Ben Bella ( ar, أحمد بن بلّة '; 25 December 1916 – 11 April 2012) was an Algerian politician, soldier and socialist revolutionary who served as the head of government of Algeria from 27 September 1962 to 15 September 1963 an ...

. After rejection by

Les Éditions de Minuit Les Éditions de Minuit (, ''Midnight Press'') is a French publishing house. It was founded in 1941, during the French Resistance of World War II, and is still publishing books today. History Les Éditions de Minuit was founded by writer and i ...

, her cause was supported by

Raymond Queneau Raymond Queneau (; 21 February 1903 – 25 October 1976) was a French novelist, poet, critic, editor and co-founder and president of Oulipo ('' Ouvroir de littérature potentielle''), notable for his wit and cynical humour. Biography Queneau w ...

, which led to Gallimard publishing ''Meurtre'' in 1964. After joining the Writers' Union in May 1968, and soon after turning up in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

during the

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backlash to the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...

, Collobert traveled almost continuously from 1970 to 1976. Her travels strongly influenced her later writings. In 1978, she asked Uccio Esposito-Torrigiani to translate her last work, the ironically titled ''Survie'' (''Survival''), into Italian; reportedly, she wanted it published as quickly as possible. ''Survie'' came out at the end of April, and Collobert died by suicide on her birthday three months later, in a hotel on the rue Dauphine in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. An experimental writer, Collobert wrote prose poems in a haunting, pessimistic, tense and stark style. Her work showed an obsession with

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as the destination of humankind, the ambiguity of

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and madness. She died, by her own hand, in

on 23 July 1978.

Bibliography

* Chants des guerres, Éditions P.-J. Oswald, 1961 (later by Éditions Calligrammes, Quimper, 1999). * Meurtre, Gallimard (Lagny-sur-Marne, impr. É. Grevin et fils), aris, 1964. * Des nuits sur les hauteurs, Éditions Denoel (preface by

Italo Calvino Italo Calvino (, also , ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian writer and journalist. His best known works include the ''Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the '' Cosmicomi ...

) * Dire : I-II :+un-deux+, Paris, Seghers : Laffont, 1972, 27-Mesnil-sur-l'Estrée, impr. Firmin-Didot, 192 p., collection Change, série rouge. * Il donc, Laffont, Paris, 1976. * Survie, Éditions Orange Export Ltd., 1978. * It Then,

O Books John Hunt Publishing is a left-wing publishing company founded in the United Kingdom in 2001, initially named O Books. The publisher has 24 active autonomous imprints, with the largest of these being the Zero Books imprint (styled Zer0 Books) foun ...

, 1989 (trans.

Norma Cole Norma Cole (born May 12, 1945) is a Canadian poet, visual artist, translator, and curator. An Anglophone Canadian by birth, Cole learned French at an early age, and went on to translate the works of French poets Emmanuel Hocquard, Danielle Collo ...

). * Notebooks, 1956–1978,

Litmus Press Litmus is a water-soluble mixture of different dyes extracted from lichens. It is often absorbed onto filter paper to produce one of the oldest forms of pH indicator, used to test materials for acidity. It is a purple dye that is extracted fr ...

, 2003 (trans.

) ''Murder'', translated from the French by Nathanaël (France; Litmus Press), was shortlisted for the 2014

Best Translated Book Award The Best Translated Book Award is an American literary award that recognizes the previous year's best original translation into English, one book of poetry and one of fiction. It was inaugurated in 2008 and is conferred by Three Percent, the onlin ...

References

External links

"Reading Danielle Collobert", by John Taylor
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20171205042030/http://raquel-levy.org/index.php/edition/tous-les-livres-orange-export-ltd "Survie", by Danielle Collobert {{DEFAULTSORT:Collobert, Danielle 1940 births 1978 suicides People from Côtes-d'Armor French women poets Suicides in France French women novelists 20th-century French women writers 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French poets