{"title":"Colette","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"cheri-and-the-end-of-cheri","title":"Chéri and The End of Chéri","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFirst published in 1920 and 1926 respectively, Colette’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eChéri\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe End of Chéri\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e form a subtle, unsparing portrait of love, beauty and the passage of time in early twentieth-century Paris. In the first novel, Fred Peloux, known as Chéri, is a beautiful, pampered young man involved with Léa de Lonval, a wealthy former courtesan nearly twenty-five years his senior; their intimate, playful world is unsettled when Chéri is expected to marry a younger woman. In the sequel, the consequences of their separation unfold against the changing social landscape of post-war France, as youth and age acquire new and painful meanings.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWith her characteristic precision, sensuality and dry wit, Colette examines the unequal bargains of desire and the ways beauty can become both privilege and burden. Léa emerges as a particularly compelling creation: self-possessed and perceptive, she confronts the prospect of ageing with a dignity that refuses easy sentiment, while Chéri struggles to imagine a life beyond the comforts of youth. Read together, the novels offer a remarkably clear-eyed meditation on attachment, vanity, loss and the passing of an era, confirming Colette’s extraordinary ability to reveal emotional complexity through the smallest gestures and most intimate details.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrom the book\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e“I was for you the most beautiful, the best of women, and you loved me?”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eColette, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eChéri\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eChéri and The End of Chéri\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Colette’s most marvelous and mature reckonings with age and youth.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Becca Rothfeld, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBookforum\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":64052484407626,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"gigi","title":"Gigi","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFirst published in 1944, Colette’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGigi\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a witty, finely observed novella set in the fashionable demi-monde of Belle Époque Paris. Gilberte, known as Gigi, is raised by her grandmother and great-aunt Alicia, women who intend to prepare her for a future as a wealthy man’s mistress. When Gaston Lachaille, a prosperous family friend, begins to see Gigi differently, the familiar rules of courtship and social advancement take an unexpected turn.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBeneath its lightness and sparkling dialogue, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGigi\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e explores female independence, the economics of desire, and the uneasy relationship between affection and social convention. Written during the Second World War, it is a distinctive late work by Colette, whose intimate knowledge of Parisian society lends the story both its precision and its quiet irony. Though widely known through its celebrated stage and film adaptations, the novella retains the sharper, more ambiguous charm of Colette’s original prose.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrom the book\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“I’ve thought it over, and I’d rather be unhappy with you than without you.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Colette, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGigi\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGigi\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“‘Gigi’ is unique in her oeuvre precisely for the mellowness that makes it so popular.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Judith Thurman, The New Yorker\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":64052498497866,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"claudine-at-school","title":"Claudine at School","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFirst published in 1900, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eClaudine at School\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e introduces one of Colette’s most vivid creations: Claudine, a sharp-eyed, irreverent adolescent growing up in a provincial French village. Told in Claudine’s own voice, the novel follows her schooldays, her friendships and rivalries, and the tangled adult intrigues she observes with a mixture of curiosity, jealousy and mischievous delight. Her account of the school’s teachers and pupils punctures the respectable surface of provincial life, revealing a world shaped by desire, vanity and hypocrisy.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe first of the Claudine novels, the book established the bold, sensuous voice that would become central to Colette’s writing, though it was initially published under her husband Willy’s name. Its frank treatment of female adolescence and same-sex attraction was daring for its time, while Claudine’s lively, sometimes unreliable narration gives the novel its lasting freshness. Beneath the comedy lies a keen portrait of a young woman discovering her own appetites and learning to look sceptically at the conventions around her.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrom the book\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cem\u003e“Those French compositions, how I loathe them! Such stupid and disgusting subjects…”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Colette, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eClaudine at School\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOn \u003cem\u003eClaudine at School\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e“She is modern, she is a hooligan, she is ancient, and she has emerged from eternity.” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRachilde, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eon \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eClaudine at School\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":64053281096010,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]}],"url":"https:\/\/thelamppostparis.com\/fr\/collections\/colette.oembed","provider":"The Lamp-Post Library \u0026 Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}