Mathilde-Marie Georgina Élisabeth de Peyrebrune (also known as George de Peyrebrune or Georges de Peyrebrune, and Judicis de la Mirandole; pseudonyms Hunedelle, Marco, and Petit Bob; 18 April 1841 – 1917) was a key French

proto-feminist Protofeminism is a concept that anticipates modern feminism in eras when the feminist concept as such was still unknown. This refers particularly to times before the 20th century, although the precise usage is disputed, as 18th-century feminism ...

Belle Époque The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque (; French for "Beautiful Epoch") is a period of French and European history, usually considered to begin around 1871–1880 and to end with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Occurring during the era ...

writer of popular novels. She was "one of the most widely read women in France", and one of the country's most popular women novelists.

Biography

Born in Pierrebrune, a hamlet of Sainte-Orse, Dordogne in 1841, she transformed "Pierrebrune" to "Peyrebrune", making it her family name. She was the daughter of Françoise Thérèse Céline Judicis and Georges Johnston, a wealthy local land-owner. Georges de Peyrebrune (1888)

She went to Paris after the war of 1870, and she made her literary debut in the magazine ''

Revue des deux Mondes The ''Revue des deux Mondes'' (, ''Review of the Two Worlds'') is a monthly French-language literary, cultural and current affairs magazine that has been published in Paris since 1829. According to its website, "it is today the place for debates a ...

'', where many of her novels were serialised. In Paris, she met Arsène Houssaye, who, after having read her ''Marco'' manuscript interceded on her behalf with the magazine editor

François Buloz François Buloz (20 September 1803 – 12 January 1877) was a French ''littérateur'', magazine editor, and theater administrator. He was born in Vulbens, Haute-Savoie, near Geneva, and died in Paris. Originally employed as a chemist, ...

. Peyrebrune wrote for several women's magazines and she also published a number of novels. Intellectually she had interests in both scientific, philosophical and masonic ideas. She opposed capital punishment and her feminism was characterized as "undeniable and contradictory". Peyrebrune published fourteen works in the 1880s with the firms Calmann-Lévy, Charpentier, Dentu, Ollendorff, and Plon. For many years, she served as on the all female 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 ...

literary prize. In 1909, she was one of the 40 members elected by the readers of ''Fémina'' to represent "A Female Academy". Peyrebrune's nom de plume started with "Georges", after

George Sand Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, bein ...

because Peyrebrune held her work in high regard. The writers Camille Delaville and

Rachilde Rachilde was the pen name and preferred identity of novelist and playwright Marguerite Vallette-Eymery (11 February 1860 – 4 April 1953). Born near Périgueux, Dordogne, Aquitaine, France during the Second French Empire, Rachilde went on t ...

were her friends. Peyrebrune married Paul Adrien Numa Eimery, from Chancelade, signing the marriage license "G. Johnston de Peyrebrune"; it was an unhappy marriage and there were no children. She died in poverty and oblivion in Paris in 1917.

Selected works

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Peyrebrune, Georges de 1841 births 1917 deaths People from Dordogne 19th-century French writers 20th-century French non-fiction writers French women novelists French feminist writers 20th-century French women writers 19th-century French women writers Pseudonymous women writers 19th-century pseudonymous writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers Belle Époque