Ernestine Chassebœuf (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Troispoux) (1910–c.2005) was a (fictitious)

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

letter writer.

Life

Ernestine Chassebœuf spent all her life in

Anjou Anjou may refer to: Geography and titles France *County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou **Count of Anjou, title of nobility *Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France ** Du ...

. Born in

Botz-en-Mauges Botz-en-Mauges () is a former commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France. On 15 December 2015, it was merged into the new commune Mauges-sur-Loire.Maine-et-Loire Maine-et-Loire () is a department in the Loire Valley in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France. It is named after the two rivers, Maine and the Loire. It borders Mayenne and Sarthe to the north, Loire-Atlantique to the west, Indr ...

, she married, in 1928, Edmond Chassebœuf, who died in 1970. She stayed most of her life in Coutures, in

Maine-et-Loire Maine-et-Loire () is a department in the Loire Valley in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France. It is named after the two rivers, Maine and the Loire. It borders Mayenne and Sarthe to the north, Loire-Atlantique to the west, Indr ...

, where she took care of her garden and her chickens. In 1999, she began to write letters denouncing, in a truculent and naive style, inefficiencies and inequities.

Alain Rémond Alain Rémond (born 15 November 1946) is a famous French humor columnist. He was born in Mortain (Manche). Biography Alain Rémond was born into a modest Breton family. He studied philosophy, became a teacher of audiovisual moving later on to f ...

and

Jean Lebrun Jean Lebrun at the in 2008 Jean Lebrun (14 May 1950, Saint-Malo, Ille-et-Vilaine) is a French journalist. A professor agrégé of history, he soon preferred journalism to the Éducation nationale. After he collaborated with ''Combat'', '' La C ...

enabled her to gain a little celebrity. Especially at the occasion of the debate about free lending of books in

libraries A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

, she wrote to all the writers who had signed the

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to an officia ...

, demanding the withdrawal of their books from public libraries until an agreement had been found. After this start, she continued to write to people in the economic, political, and literary world, or in the media; her common sense and frankness highlighted inconsistencies and mediocrity in French society.

Works

* ''The wheelbarrow and the two orphans''. Letters on the right lending library, Vauchrétien: I. Davy; Angers : Éd. Deleatur, 2000 Davy; Angers: Ed. 2000
''Ernestine writes everywhere''
Volume 1 (1999) Paris

2004, *
Ernestine writes everywhere
', Volume 2 Paris, Ginkgo, 2004, *
Ernestine writes everywhere
', Volume 3 (Correspondence 2000-2005), Paris, Ginkgo publisher, 2005.

Life

Works

See also