Gabrielle Réval (also G. Réval) was the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume 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 name may be used to make the author's 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 (; Central Italian, Viterbese: ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Lazio region of Italy, the Capital city, capital of the province of Viterbo. It conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium) in ...

. She was a student at the École normale supérieure de jeunes filles (ENSJF) in

Sèvres Sèvres (, ) is a French Communes of France, commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris. It is located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department of the Île-de-France region. The commune, which had a populatio ...

, receiving her teaching diploma in 1890. After successfully passing the ''

agrégation In France, the () is the most competitive and prestigious examination for civil service in the French public education A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all stu ...

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

Niort Niort (; Poitevin: ''Niàu''; ; ) 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 urban area. Geography T ...

. 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 List of literary awards, literary prize awarded each year by an exclusively female jury. The prize, which was established in 1904, is awarded to French-language works written in prose or Verse (poetry), verse by male ...

. 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 ( , "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 of only 10 euros, but resul ...

, considered

misogynistic Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practis ...

. 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 tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

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

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, and is buried in

Cap-d'Ail Cap-d'Ail (; ; or ''Capo d'Aglio'') is a seaside Communes of France, commune in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. Geography Cap-d'Ail bor ...

, on the

French Riviera The French Riviera, known in French as the (; , ; ), is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending fr ...

where she stayed regularly and often wrote about.

Awards and honors

* Knight,

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

, 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 Knights of the Legion of Honour French women novelists French women essayists People from Viterbo Pseudonymous women writers