Valérie Valère was the pseudonym of Valérie Samama (1 November 1961 – 17 December 1982), a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

writer. She published her first work, the book '' Le Pavillon des enfants fous'', in 1978 after spending four months confined to a

psychiatric hospital A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe Mental disorder, mental disorders. These institutions cater t ...

for

anorexia nervosa Anorexia nervosa (AN), often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by Calorie restriction, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. Individuals wit ...

. The book is an

autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

account covering her relationship with her abusive parents, experiences as a child in French society, and in particular her institutionalized years. Critics praised her style of writing and her expressive, philosophically sophisticated articulations of systemic mistreatment and misunderstanding. Scholar Richard A. Mazzara likens her work to

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism, literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th ...

Albert Camus Albert Camus ( ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, journalist, world federalist, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the s ...

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a Germans, German-Swiss people, Swiss poet and novelist, and the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His interest in Eastern philosophy, Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophic ...

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French writer and author whose writings spanned a wide variety of styles and topics. He was awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature. Gide's career ranged from his begi ...

, and

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 ...

Life

Valérie Samama was born in the

15th arrondissement of Paris The 15th arrondissement of Paris () is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ('the fifteenth'). The 15th arrondissement, called , is situated on the Rive ...

to a family of

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n origin. At age 13, after a family shock, she was committed to a psychiatric hospital for

. Two years later she wrote a book about it, ''Le Pavillon des enfants fous'' ("The mad children's ward"), published in 1978 by Editions Stock. On

Bernard Pivot Bernard Pivot (; 5 May 1935 – 6 May 2024) was a French journalist, interviewer and host of cultural television programmes. He was chairman of the Académie Goncourt from 2014 to 2020. Biography Pivot was born in Lyon on 5 May 1935, the son o ...

's talk show ''

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'', 27 April 1979, she said that she had received ten rejection letters from publishers before Stock accepted her manuscript. Her book criticizes the hospital setting in which she spent four months, describing it as coercive, humiliating and dehumanizing for the patients. In parallel with her studies at the lycée Racine in Paris, she took courses in

tightrope walking Tightrope walking, also called funambulism, is the skill of walking along a thin wire or rope. It has a long tradition in various countries and is commonly associated with the circus. Other skills similar to tightrope walking include slack rope ...

at the school of

Annie Fratellini Annie Violette Fratellini (14 November 1932 – 1 July 1997) was a French circus artist, singer, film actress and clown. Biography She was born Annie Violette Fratellini on 14 November 1932, in Algiers, French Algeria French Algeria ( un ...

. She saw the circus, like writing, as a way to escape reality. After obtaining her

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, she left to study at the Sorbonne. With the success of her first novel, she rented an apartment where she wrote ''Malika ou un Jour comme un autre'' ("Malika or a day like any other"), published in 1979, et ''Obsession blanche'' ("White obsession") the next year. In ''Malika'' she tells of a difficult relation between and a brother and a sister whom the adults bring to death, written from the point of view of the brother. She acted in two films, ''Pierrette'' (1977) by

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and ''Équilibres'' (1979) de

Marion Hänsel Marion Hänsel (née Ackermann; 12 February 1949 – 8 June 2020) In 2001, Isabelle Clerc wrote the first biography of Valérie Valère, ''Un seul regard m'aurait suffi'' ("One look would have been enough for me"), published by Perrin with an unpublished text by the author, ''Laisse pleurer la pluie sur tes yeux'' ("Let the rain weep on your eyes"), contributed by its historic publisher Christian de Bartillat.

Published works

*''Le Pavillon des enfants fous'' (1978) *''Malika ou un jour comme tous les autres'' (1980) *''Obsession blanche'' (1981)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valere, Valerie 1961 births 1981 suicides 20th-century French non-fiction writers 20th-century French women writers 1981 deaths Suicides in France