Colette (1873-2023): when the gardens tell the story of a great woman of letters.
Published on January 27, 2023 by Karine Good
Colette lived in Corrèze for around ten years between 1911 and 1923, people who know her really well know it otherwise for others it's a bit mysterious...
For the record, it all begins with a love story (this is often the case!).
Indeed, Colette fell in love with Henry de Jouvenel, one of the editors-in-chief of the newspaper “Le Matin”, at the time she wrote her first stories. We are in 1911 and very quickly, it is mutual love at first sight and Henry de Jouvenel will take him to his native land, Corrèze.
She will stay at the castle of Castel-Novel nicknamed by Colette “La grande baraque”. She spent the summer there between 1911 and 1923.
She will particularly like Corrèze and especially “the fruits of the Limousine Land”
Life in Corrèze, his marriage, the birth of his daughter, his meetings.
In December 19, 1912, she married Henry de Jouvenel and in July 1913, Colette Renée de Jouvenel was born from their union. She was raised in Corrèze by an English nanny, Miss Draper. She has the same nickname as her mother Bel-Gazou (meaning “beautiful language” in Provençal patois because Colette’s father was from Toulon)
Here is Colette’s portrait of her daughter:
"Bel-Gazou, fruit of the Limousin soil! Four summers have painted it in the colors of this country. It is dark and glazed like an October apple, like a terracotta jar, topped with short, straight hair made of corn silk, and in his eyes, neither green, nor gray, nor brown cheek, brown, green, gray, the reflection of the chestnut, of the silver trunk, of the shaded spring..." (Colette, Les Heures longue , 1917)
In Corrèze, Colette recruits Pauline Vérine (from Dampniat, near Brive), who becomes her favorite cook, her accomplice, her confidante and her friend.
She follows her for 38 years, everywhere and until the end. Colette loves all pleasures and particularly good food. Colette is a great gourmand and she quickly succumbs to Corrèze cuisine "a food as simple as it is alloyed... Every day a cup of cream that comes from the heavens and garlic by the cartload" Letter to Annie de Pène, Castel -Novel, August 3, 1917 or even “I ate six cloves of garlic for dinner, two onions for lunch”. She also talks about porcini mushrooms, poultry, salted butter, blood sausages...
Colette has quite an appetite which accompanies her all her life, in fact Pauline said “Mrs Colette writes better when she has eaten well”
Do you know Colette well?
Colette loved MUSIC
- Do you know that she worked with Maurice Ravel between 1919 and 1925 for the work L'Enfant et les Sortilèges?
- “If I had a son to marry, I would say to him: Beware of the young girl who likes neither wine, nor truffles, nor cheese, nor music. »
Colette and the GARDEN
- Do you know that in all the regions where she stayed (Burgundy, Franche Comté, Brittany, Corrèze, Provence, Palais Royal) she will always have a garden or even a vegetable garden for her greatest happiness?
- “The Jardin-du-Haut commanded a Jardin-du-Bas, a tight and warm vegetable garden, devoted to eggplant and pepper, where the smell of tomato foliage mingled, in July, with the scent of apricot matured on espaliers. »
Colette and the KITCHEN
- The press likes to say that Colette carries her greed with her. She doesn’t hide it and replies “I like being greedy”.
- “If you are not capable of a little witchcraft, there is no point in meddling in cooking. »
- “I entered the world of wine with no other professional training than a certain fondness for good bottles. »
This is just a small sample of what she loved.
Les Jardins de Colette celebrates the 150th anniversary of the writer's birth throughout the year
The 150th anniversary of the birth of Colette will be the common thread of events at the Gardens this year, around three themes: delicacy, music and the garden.
- April “Colette’s Gluttony”
From April 9 to 23: Easter (treasure game, makeup, and shows...) - June “Between cooking and music”
June 2, 3 and 4: Meet at the Gardens “Garden Music” - July – August “Music, passion of Colette”
- July 19 at 20 p.m.: Vézère Festival “Misia, queen of the night” - reading concert with Julie Depardieu (actress), Juliette Hurel (flute) and Hélène Couvert (piano)Other evenings - programming to come
- September “Between cooking and music”
September 16 and 17: “Living Heritage” Heritage Days - October - November “Colette and the garden”
- From October 25 to November 5: Halloween (cucurbit decoration workshop, makeup, treasure hunt, shows, etc.)
- October 27 and 28: Halloween nights in the Labyrinth “Where is Alice?” »
You will also like...
