Régine Deforges
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Régine Deforges (15 August 1935 – 3 April 2014) was a French author, editor, director, and playwright. Her book ''La Bicyclette bleue'' was the most popular book in France in 2000 and it was known by some to be offensive and to others for its plagiarism, neither of which was proved.


Life

Deforges was born in
Montmorillon Montmorillon () is a commune in central-western France, in the Vienne department of which it is a sub-prefecture, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Its inhabitants are called ''Montmorillonnaises'' ''and Montmorillonnais''. Montmorillon is a Book town a ...
, Vienne, Deforges is sometimes called the ''High Priestess of French
erotic literature Erotic literature comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts of eros (concept), eros (passionate, romantic or sexual relationships) intended to arouse similar feelings in readers. This contrasts erotica, which focuses more specifically ...
''. Deforges was the first woman to own and operate a
publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
house in France. Over the years, she has been censored, prosecuted, and heavily fined for publishing "offensive" literature, beginning with
Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (; 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the Surrealism, surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littératur ...
: '' Irene's Cunt''. One of her novels, (''The Blue Bicycle''), published in 1981, was France's biggest bestseller. In 2000, it was made into a television series. A story of love, obsession, and survival set during the turmoil of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, it developed into a successful series of seven books. ''La Bicyclette bleue'' would go on to cause a major international intellectual property court case. In the initial ruling, Deforges was found guilty of plagiarizing Margaret Mitchell's famous novel
Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind ...
. Deforges freely admitted that the first 70 pages were inspired by Mitchell's novel but the whole book was 1200 pages long. She won her case on appeal, and the ruling ordering her to pay damages was reversed. She was formerly president of the Société des Gens de Lettres de France and a member of 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 ...
jury. She lived in Paris. Deforges transformed her home town into a "City of Writing". It has had museums and bookshops with that theme since 2000. The idea that Montmorillon should be a
Book town A book town is a town or village with many used book or antiquarian bookstores. These stores, as well as literary festivals, attract bibliophile tourists. Some book towns are members of the International Organisation of Book Towns. List of ...
came from Deforges who was then a local councillor. The town had a history of paper-making and her idea received both local and international support. The old medieval quarter of the town attracted six million euros of funding and now brands itself as a book town.


Bibliography


Novels and short stories

* ''O m'a dit'' ("O Told Me"), conversations with the author of '' Story of O'' (1975) * ''Blanche et Lucie'' ("Blanche and Lucie"), short story about her two grandmothers (
Fayard Fayard (complete name: ''Librairie Arthème Fayard'') is a French Paris-based publishing house established in 1857. Fayard is controlled by Hachette Livre. In 1999, Éditions Pauvert became part of Fayard. Claude Durand was director of Fayar ...
, 1976) * ''Le Cahier volé'' ("The Stolen Folder"), short story partly inspired by a childhood spent at the École Saint-Martial de
Montmorillon Montmorillon () is a commune in central-western France, in the Vienne department of which it is a sub-prefecture, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Its inhabitants are called ''Montmorillonnaises'' ''and Montmorillonnais''. Montmorillon is a Book town a ...
(Fayard, 1978) * '' Les Contes pervers'' ("Perverse Tales"), her first erotic work (1980), later adapted for cinema * ("The Nuns' Revolt", Fayard, 1981), adapted for television as ''L'Enfant des Loups'' ("Child of Wolves") in 1991 * ''Les Enfants de Blanche'' ("Blanche's Children"), a sequel to ''Blanche et Lucie'' (1982) * ''Sur les bords de la Gartempe'' ("On the Banks of the
Gartempe The Gartempe () is a French river, long. It is a left tributary of the Creuse, which it joins in La Roche-Posay. Its source is in the municipality of Peyrabout. Among its tributaries are the Anglin, the Brame, the Semme and the Ardour. T ...
"), comprising ''Blanche et Lucie'', ''Les Enfants de Blanche'' and ''Le Cahier volé'' * ''Lola et quelques autres'' ("Lola and a Few Others"), short story collection (Fayard, 1983) * ''L'Orage'', ("The Storm", , 1986) * ''Pour l'amour de Marie Salat'' ("For Love of Marie Salat",
Albin Michel Albin may refer to: Places * Albin, Wyoming, US * Albin Township, Brown County, Minnesota, US * Albin, Virginia, US People * Albin (given name), origin of the name and people with the first name "Albin" * Albin (surname) ;Mononyms * Albin of ...
, 1987) * ''Sous le ciel de Novgorod'' ("Under the Skies of
Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the V ...
", Fayard, 1989) * ''Troubles de femmes'' ("Women's Troubles"), short story (, 1994) * ''Journal d'un éditeur'' ("An Editor's Journal") * ''Rencontres ferroviaires'' ("Railroad Meetings", Fayard, 1999) * ''La petite fille au manteau rose'' ("The Little Girl in the Pink Jacket"), short story in ''Chemin faisant'', a collection of stories set on public transport ( Le Serpent à plumes, 2001) * ''La Hire, ou la colère de Jeanne'' (" La Hire, or the Fury of Joan"), historical novel about
Joan of Arc Joan of Arc ( ; ;  – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...
* ''Le collier de perles'' ("The Pearl Necklace", Albin Michel) / 2006 : Le Livre de Poche (LGF) / 2004


La Bicyclette bleue

* 1981: (''The Blue Bicycle'', Fayard) / 1987 : Le Livre de Poche (LGF) * 1983: (''No. 101, Henri Martin Avenue'', Fayard) / 1987 : Le Livre de Poche (LGF) * 1985: (''The Devil's Still Laughing About It'', Fayard) / 1988 : Le Livre de Poche (LGF) * 1991: (''Black Tango'', Fayard) / 1993 : Le Livre de Poche (LGF) * 1994: (''Silk Road'', Fayard) / 1996 : Le Livre de Poche (LGF) * 1996: (''The Final Hill'', Fayard) / 1999 : Le Livre de Poche (LGF) * 1999: (''To the Freedom of Cuba!'', Fayard) / 2001 : Le Livre de Poche (LGF) * 2001: (''Algiers, White City'', Fayard) / 2003 : Le Livre de Poche (LGF) * 2003: (''The Generals of Twilight'', Fayard) / 2005 : Le Livre de Poche (LGF) * 2007: (''And When the Trip is Over'', Fayard)


Essays

* ''Entre femmes'' ("Among Women", Éditions Blanche/
Robert Laffont The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...
1999) * ''Fragments'' ("Fragments", France Loisirs, 1997) * ''Les Non-dits de Régine Deforges'' ("My Taboos",
Stock Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...
, 1997) * ''Roger Stéphane ou la passion d'admirer'' ("Roger Stéphane, or the Drive to Admire",
Fayard Fayard (complete name: ''Librairie Arthème Fayard'') is a French Paris-based publishing house established in 1857. Fayard is controlled by Hachette Livre. In 1999, Éditions Pauvert became part of Fayard. Claude Durand was director of Fayar ...
/ Éditions Spengler, 1995) * ''Camilo'' ("Camilo", Fayard, 1999)


Anthologies

* ''Les Cent plus beaux cris de femmes'' ("The Hundred Most Beautiful Cries of Women", Cherche-Midi Éditeur, 1980) * ''La Chanson d'amour, petite anthologie'' ("The Love Song", Éditions Mango-Images, 1999) * ''Poèmes de femmes'' ("Poems by Women", Cherche-Midi Éditeur, 1993)


Tales

* ''Léa au pays des dragons'', ("Léa in the Land of Dragons", 1982) * ''L'Apocalypse de saint Jean'' ("The Apocalypse of St John", Éditions Ramsay, 1985) * ''L'Arche de Noé de grand-mère'' ("Grandmother's Noah's Ark", Éditions Calligram, 1995) * ''Léa au pays des dragons'' (réédition par
Nathan Nathan or Natan may refer to: People and biblical figures *Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name * Nathan (surname) *Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible *Nathan (son of David), a biblical figu ...
, 1991) * ''Léa et les diables'' ("Léa and the Demons", Seuil, 1991) * ''Léa et les fantômes'' ("Léa and the Ghosts", Seuil, 1992) * ''Le Couvent de sœur Isabelle'' ("The Convent of Sister Isabelle", Seuil, 1992) * ''Les Chiffons de Lucie'' ("Lucie's Scraps", Éditions Calligram, 1993) * ''Les Poupées de grand-mère'' ("Grandmother's Dolls",
Stock Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...
, 1994)


Filmography

* ''Contes Pervers'' (aka ''Les Filles de Madame Claude'' / ''Erotic Tales''; director, 1980)


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Deforges, Regine 1935 births 2014 deaths People from Montmorillon French women novelists French women screenwriters French screenwriters French women dramatists and playwrights French women film directors 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French dramatists and playwrights 20th-century French women writers Prix Maison de la Presse winners Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres