Gabrielle Réval (also G. Réval) is the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of Gabrielle Élise Victoire Logerot (20 December 1869 – 15 October 1938), a French novelist and essayist.

Biography

Gabrielle Réval was born as Gabrielle Élise Victoire Logerot on 20 December 1869, in

Viterbo Viterbo (; Viterbese: ; lat-med, Viterbium) is a city and ''comune'' in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo. It conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium) in its early history. ...

. She was a student at the École normale supérieure de jeunes filles (ENSJF) in Sèvres, receiving her teaching diploma in 1890. After successfully passing the ''

agrégation In France, the ''agrégation'' () is a competitive examination for civil service in the French public education system. Candidates for the examination, or ''agrégatifs'', become ''agrégés'' once they are admitted to the position of ''professe ...

'' in 1893, she taught at the girls' high school in

Niort Niort (; Poitevin: ''Niàu''; oc, Niòrt; la, Novioritum) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department, western France. It is the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres. The population of Niort is 58,707 (2017) and more than 177,000 people live in the u ...

. Choosing the pen name "Réval", in several of her novels, she wrote about girls in their schools and their place in society, for example, ''Lycéennes'' (1902) and ''La Bachelière'' (1910)."Des études au combat pour l'égalité · À la conquête de la Sorbonne : Marie Curie et autres pionnières", NuBIS, nubis.univ-paris1.fr She was noticed from her first book, ''Les Sévriennes'' (1900), in which she describes her experiences in Sèvres. In 1904, when the issue of girls' primary and secondary education was gaining attention, she published ''L’Avenir de nos filles'', a work listing women's professions. She underscored the precariousness for women to become authors: "Only a rich woman can, to some extent, reconcile her duties as a mother with those as a writer". In November that year, she co-founded "le prix Vie heureuse" (Happy Life award), which later became the

Prix Femina 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 ...

. With 21 other women who contributed to the journal ''La Vie heureuse'', she sought to develop an alternative to the

Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...

, considered misogynistic. From its inception until her death, she was an active member of the "Club des Belles Perdrix", the first French women writers' gastronomic club, which she co-founded at the restaurant Chez les Vikings, on 18 January 1928, together with some 20 others. In 1938, she received the Prix d'Académie from the

Académie Française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

for her life's work. She died on 15 October 1938, in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, and is buried in

Cap-d'Ail Cap-d'Ail (; oc, Caup d'Alh; it, Capodaglio or ''Capo d'Aglio'') is a seaside commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 4,523. Geography Cap-d'A ...

, on the

French Riviera The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...

where she stayed regularly and often wrote about.

Awards and honors

* Knight,

Legion of Honour 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, ...

, 27 February 1927 * Prix d'Académie, Académie Française, 1938

Selected works

* ''Les Sévriennes'', 1900 * ''Un lycée de jeunes filles'', 1901 * ''Lycéennes'', 1902 * ''La Cruche Cassée'', 1904 * ''La Bachelière'', 1910 * ''L'Avenir de nos filles'', 1904 * ''L'Infante à la rose'', 1920 * ''La fontaine des amours'', 1923 * ''La Tour du feu'', 1928 * ''La Côte d'Azur'', 1934

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reval, Gabrielle 1869 births 1938 deaths 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French women writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers Writers from Lyon French essayists Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur French women novelists French women essayists People from Viterbo Pseudonymous women writers