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Colette: A Taste for Life
Sidonie-Gabrielle Collette was born in 1873 in a small village in Burgundy. She went to Paris at the age of twenty, where she unwillingly, but obediently, started her career as a writer at the instigation of her first husband. Her first books shocked the French bourgeoisie and, indeed, most of the critics; inspired thousands of adolescent boys and girls to write to her, identifying their thoughts and feelings with those of her characters; started a cult; and at the same time gained for her amongst other literary honours, the nomination of Chevalier of the Legion d'honneur on the same day as Marcel Proust. "Collette's essence was her sensuous love of the earth and its mysteries. To explain was to destroy. This and other captivating aspects of Colette's wonderful personality Yvonne Mitchell has caught with devotion and intelligence." -- Margaret Manning, Philadelphia Inquirer
- GenresBiography
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
2 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
Yvonne Mitchell
14 books5 followersYvonne Mitchell (born Yvonne Frances Joseph) was an English actress and author. She was a theatre and film/television actor throughout her life.
Mitchell was also an established author, writing several books for children and adults as well as winning awards for playwriting. Her plays include "The Same Sky". She wrote an acclaimed biography of the French writer Colette, and her own autobiography, "Actress", was published in 1957.
Author of: "The Bed-Sitter" (1959), "A Year in Time " (1964), "Cathy Away" (1964), and "The Family" (1967), "Martha on Sunday" (1970), "But Wednesday Cried" (1974), "God is Inexperienced" (1974), "Fables" (1977), and "But Answer Came There None" (1977).
Mitchell was also an established author, writing several books for children and adults as well as winning awards for playwriting. Her plays include "The Same Sky". She wrote an acclaimed biography of the French writer Colette, and her own autobiography, "Actress", was published in 1957.
Author of: "The Bed-Sitter" (1959), "A Year in Time " (1964), "Cathy Away" (1964), and "The Family" (1967), "Martha on Sunday" (1970), "But Wednesday Cried" (1974), "God is Inexperienced" (1974), "Fables" (1977), and "But Answer Came There None" (1977).
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 17, 2013
An interesting biography of Colette from her childhood, her deep love for her mother, Sido and the freedom she had as a child. She loved nature, like a little feral woodland creature. It covers her marriage to 'Willy', a friend of her father's, Henry Gauthier-Villars. Colette was very young and her mother was very unhappy.
Her life with Willy in Paris was the beginning of her writing career. She wrote the 'Claudine' stories.
This biography is fascinating as she goes from country village girl to the Artistic Parisian world. It is full of drawings and photos by famous Intellectuals and artists. Lots of fascinating anecdotes and she always retained her love of nature and the theatre.
I love the stories of her and her daughter, Bel-Gazou.
I have had this book since 1979 and will never get tired of it. What a fascinating and talented and life loving woman.
Her life with Willy in Paris was the beginning of her writing career. She wrote the 'Claudine' stories.
This biography is fascinating as she goes from country village girl to the Artistic Parisian world. It is full of drawings and photos by famous Intellectuals and artists. Lots of fascinating anecdotes and she always retained her love of nature and the theatre.
I love the stories of her and her daughter, Bel-Gazou.
I have had this book since 1979 and will never get tired of it. What a fascinating and talented and life loving woman.
March 8, 2017
Delightful book. A very concise biography of Colette replete with wonderful photographs.
July 16, 2024
The early 1970s not only saw Yvonne Mitchell with her biography of Colette, A Taste For Life, publicised but also her own one woman shows touring the country, Colette. Colette’s Cheri, a five-part serialisation drama on BBC2, where Yvonne Mitchell plays Colette’s heroine Lea in the book adaptation, appeared on our television screens. A Radio Times written feature from April 1973 tells of Yvonne Mitchell visiting locations in France with Russell Miller. Maurice Goudeket Colette’s third husband and Colette de Jouvenel Colette’s only child both speak to Yvonne and give insights into the life of Colette. Yvonne was asked to write a biography of Colette after her performance as Lea in Claude Whatman's directed BBC2 serial series, Cheri. Interviewed in 1979, Yvonne Mitchell spoke of visits to France researching her subject.
"I sort of snooped around St Sauveur,' she recalls. It was easy to get the feel of her-she was a woman of the earth, immersed in the most basic things from the earth: plants, insects, birds, anything that lived. This absorption began in childhood; she had a basically very happy childhood with a really wonderful mother, Sido. Her mother would stop her skipping to say,"Look at that little bird in the tree." She was taught to observe the tiniest things. She used to get up early and walk about two miles to be the first to uncover the first primrose of the day and to see the snail waking up."
Yvonne Mitchell’s A Taste For Life skillfully combines the depth of a well-researched book with a storytelling writing style that reads like a novel. You not only come away from reading with a feeling of getting to know Colette as the person, but Yvonne’s own understanding of her subject brought to life through her own beautifully written passages on Colette adds a flow, a rhythm to each paragraph. Added extracts from Colette’s novels, this works alongside Yvonne’s words. Yvonne, the novelist, provides us with more than just an account, a storyteller’s skill, with a reading audience in mind. With many illustrations and photographs throughout the book, this biography of Colette is a fitting companion to Colette’s many books. For those that saw Yvonne play Colette on stage, I can only imagine. In Yvonne’s biography of Colette, we get a flavour of what was a performance. Both Colette and Yvonne knew the theatre, and the written word intimately.
An intriguing insight into Yvonne's writing process when writing this biography of Colette, is spoken of again in an interview with Yvonne in 1979. "I could not write unless I was in bed with the curtains drawn and the light on and with a scarf around my neck. Colette, too used to have the curtains drawn and a scarf round her neck when she was writing, which was strange for a woman so attached to air and earth. I suppose being an actress, it was like playing a part in the theatre-the part had taken me over."
Colette: A Taste for Life
"I sort of snooped around St Sauveur,' she recalls. It was easy to get the feel of her-she was a woman of the earth, immersed in the most basic things from the earth: plants, insects, birds, anything that lived. This absorption began in childhood; she had a basically very happy childhood with a really wonderful mother, Sido. Her mother would stop her skipping to say,"Look at that little bird in the tree." She was taught to observe the tiniest things. She used to get up early and walk about two miles to be the first to uncover the first primrose of the day and to see the snail waking up."
Yvonne Mitchell’s A Taste For Life skillfully combines the depth of a well-researched book with a storytelling writing style that reads like a novel. You not only come away from reading with a feeling of getting to know Colette as the person, but Yvonne’s own understanding of her subject brought to life through her own beautifully written passages on Colette adds a flow, a rhythm to each paragraph. Added extracts from Colette’s novels, this works alongside Yvonne’s words. Yvonne, the novelist, provides us with more than just an account, a storyteller’s skill, with a reading audience in mind. With many illustrations and photographs throughout the book, this biography of Colette is a fitting companion to Colette’s many books. For those that saw Yvonne play Colette on stage, I can only imagine. In Yvonne’s biography of Colette, we get a flavour of what was a performance. Both Colette and Yvonne knew the theatre, and the written word intimately.
An intriguing insight into Yvonne's writing process when writing this biography of Colette, is spoken of again in an interview with Yvonne in 1979. "I could not write unless I was in bed with the curtains drawn and the light on and with a scarf around my neck. Colette, too used to have the curtains drawn and a scarf round her neck when she was writing, which was strange for a woman so attached to air and earth. I suppose being an actress, it was like playing a part in the theatre-the part had taken me over."
Colette: A Taste for Life
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