Monique Saint-Hélier was the pseudonym of Berthe Eimann-Briod (born 2 September 1895 in

La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds (; archaic ) is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura Mountains at an altitude of 992 metres, a few kilometres south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne, Biel/Bienne, and Fribourg, ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

- 9 March 1955 in

Pacy-sur-Eure Pacy-sur-Eure (, literally ''Pacy on Eure'') is a commune in the Eure department, Normandy, France. On 1 January 2017, the former commune of Saint-Aquilin-de-Pacy was merged into Pacy-sur-Eure.France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

), a Swiss writer. From 1917, she was married to the Swiss translator and teacher Blaise Briod (1896–1981), both converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

together.

Life

Saint-Hélier was born in 1895 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, one of the most famous cities for Swiss watch production. She lost her mother at the age of three. She had to undergo her first operation at the age of eleven. In 1917, she married Blaise Briod. Both studied literature in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

and converted to Catholicism on their wedding day. After her conversion, Saint-Hélier changed her first name to Monique in 1918 (her stage name Saint-Hélier refers to St

Helier Helier (died 555) was a 6th-century ascetic hermit. He is the patron saint of Jersey in the Channel Islands, and in particular of the town and parish of Saint Helier, the island's capital. He is also invoked as a healing saint for diseases of t ...

, whose memorial day fell on her mother's birthday). In 1923 she met

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as ...

, with whom she became close friends and who encouraged her to write. She dedicated her first published text ("A Rilke pour Noël", 1927) to him. At the end of 1925, Saint-Hélier and Briod left Switzerland and went to Paris. In France, Saint-Hélier's health deteriorated and she was confined to her bed most of the time. In 1940, she fled from the invasion of the German troops, but soon had to return to Paris, where she remained in her sickbed until the end of the war. She wrote about this time in her diary from 1940 to 1948. She died on 9 March 1955, 14 days after the publication of her last book.

Work

For the Swiss literary scholar

Charles Linsmayer Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

, Saint-Hélier is "one of the most important Swiss authors of the 20th century". The French literary critic Isabelle Rüf describes her style as a break with the traditional French novel and points out similarities to

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

. The literary scholar Doris Jakubec sees parallels to

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust ( ; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist who wrote the novel (in French – translated in English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'' and more r ...

's polyphonic narrative style. Saint-Hélier's main work is an unfinished cycle of novels about the decline of the Alérac, Balagny and Graew families in the Swiss town of La Chaux-de-Fonds.

Works (in German translation)

* ''Traumkäfig'' (Original: ''La Cage aux rêves''. Paris, R.-A. Corrêa, 1932). German by Hedi Wyss. Huber, Frauenfeld 1990. * ''Morsches Holz'' (Original: ''Bois-Mort''. Paris, Grasset, 1934). German by Rudolf Jakob Humm. Morgarten Verlag, Zurich 1939 / Suhrkamp, Frankfurt/Main 1987 (1952). * ''Strohreiter'' (Original: ''Le Cavalier de paille.'' Paris, Grasset, 1936). German by Cécile Ines Loos, Morgarten Verlag, Zurich 1939 / Suhrkamp 1952. * ''Der Eisvogel'' (Original: ''Le Martin-pêcheur.'' Paris, Grasset, 1953). German by Leonharda Gescher, Suhrkamp 1954. * ''Quick'' (Original: ''Quick.'' Neuchâtel, La Baconnière, 1954). German by Leonharda Gescher, Suhrkamp 1954. * ''Die rote Gießkanne'' (Original: ''L'Arrosoir rouge''. Paris, Grasset, 1955). German by Leonharda Gescher, Suhrkamp 1956.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Helier, Monique 1895 births 1955 deaths People from La Chaux-de-Fonds 20th-century Swiss writers 20th-century Swiss women writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers