Edmée de La Rochefoucauld (1896-1991) was a French activist for women’s voting rights and a writer, sometimes using the pseudonym Gilbert Mauge.
Early life
Edmée Frisch de Fels was born in Paris, France on April 28, 1895, the daughter of
Edmund, Comte de Fels, director of the ''
Revue de Paris'',
and
Comtesse de Fels, née
Jeanne Lebaudy, who was a founder of the
Union Nationale pour le Vote des Femmes (UNVF). On December 27, 1917 she married
Jean, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, heir to La Rochefoucauld ducal title.
They had two sons and two daughters.
["La Rochefoucauld, Edmée, Duchesse de (1895–1991)." Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages, edited by Anne Commire and Deborah Klezmer, vol. 1, Yorkin Publications, 2007, p. 1088. Gale eBooks, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2588813593/GVRL?u=wikipedia&sid=GVRL&xid=c53cdaba. Accessed 14 Apr. 2021.]
Career
De La Rochefoucauld was a Catholic leader in French women’s efforts to win the right to vote. She became an officer in the UNVF in 1927 and became its president in 1930.
For more than 60 years she was also a central figure in French world of letters, publishing her first book ''Fonction de X'' in 1926.
In 1938, she reported on
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 ...
. In 1944, she became a member of jury for the
Prix Fémina
The Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine '' La Vie heureuse'' (today known as '' Femina''). The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury. They reward French-language works written ...
.
In the 1950s she published studies of
Anna de Noailles
Anna, Comtesse Mathieu de Noailles (Anna Elisabeth Bibesco-Bassaraba de Brancovan) (15 November 1876 – 30 April 1933) was a French writer of Romanian and Greek descent, a poet and a socialist feminist.
Biography
Personal life
Born Princess ...
, poet
Leon-Paul Fargue,
Yvan Goll, and
Paul Valéry
Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, mus ...
.
She also assisted her brother
André de Fels
André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew, and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries. It is a variation o ...
who had become publisher of ''
Revue de Paris,'' from 1961 to 1970.
She was elected to the Belgian Royal Academy of the French Language and Literature in 1962 and later that decade published a guide to ''
Cahiers of Paul Valéry'' (1964–1966).
She was a commander of the
French Legion of Honor
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...
.
She published last book in 1989, at age 94.
It was the final installment in her three-volume memoir entitled ''Flashes.''
Death and legacy
She died in Paris on September 20, 1991.
She was 96.
Beginning in 1990, the
Prix Edmée-de-La-Rochefoucauld
Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who als ...
is awarded annually to a first-time novelist. As of 2020, the prize included an award of 3000 Euros.
Publications
* ''Nombres'' (1926)
* ''Faust et Marguerites'' (1927)
*''La Vie humaine'' (1928)
*''Spanish Women'' (1938)
*''La Femme et ses droits'' (1939)
*''Les Moralistes de l'intelligence'' (1945)
*''La Vie commode aux peuples'' (1947)
*''Vus d'un autre monde'' (1950)
*''Plus loin que Bételgeuse'' (1952)
*''Choix de poèmes'' (1955)
*''Menton'' (1962)
*''La Nature et l'esprit'' (1965)
*''Femmes dramaturges'' (1968)
*''Courts Métrages'' (1970)
*''Spectateurs'' (1972)
*''L'Acquiescement'' (1978)
*''Courts Métrages II'' (1980)
*''Flashes'' (3 vols., 1982–89)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:de La Rochefoucauld, Edmee
1991 deaths
French duchesses
French suffragists
French women writers
20th-century French women
1896 births