Catherine Pozzi
Encyclopedia
Catherine Marthe Louise Pozzi (13 July 1882 in Paris
- 3 December 1934 in Paris) was a French poet and woman of letters.
. From a young age she was interested in music, and at age 11 started keeping a journal. She studied for a year in Oxford
.
At the age of 19, she read the published diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
, and it had a profound effect upon her, spurring her to write intensely in her own journal.
At age 25, she married the popular dramatist Édouard Bourdet
. In 1909 their son Claude
(later a member of the French Resistance
) was born.
Around 1910, she began to exhibit symptoms of tuberculosis
, from which she suffered until her death.
She began studying history, philosophy and religion, math and sciences as the student of Marie Jaëll
. In 1918, at the age of 37, she passed her baccalaureate. In that year, her father was assassinated by one of his former patients who was suffering from a paranoid delusion.
Friends of hers included Rainer Maria Rilke
, Anna de Noailles, Jean Paulhan
(editor of La Nouvelle Revue française), Colette
, Henri de Régnier
, Pierre Jean Jouve
.
She began in 1920 a tumultuous relationship with Paul Valéry
, which lasted eight years and gave rise to important correspondence. The rift between them distanced her from the Paris salons and caused her to have a terrible feeling of isolation.
She died in Paris on 3 December 1934, after illness with tuberculosis as well as morphine
and laudanum
use.
.
More recently, the publication of her Journal (1913–1934) and Journal de jeunesse (1893–1906) renewed interest in her. Her published correspondence with Paul Valéry
– that letters survived the desire expressed in Pozzi's will that they be destroyed – represents only a small portion of their exchanged letters.
Some of Pozzi's poems evoke those of Louise Labé
, but their effect and tension seem to have little in common with the work of the 16th century.
Paris, Ramsay, 1987 / Seghers, 1990 / C. Paulhan, « Pour mémoire », 1999. Réédité chez Phébus (édition augmentée, 798 p) : ISBN 2-7529-0044-9
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
- 3 December 1934 in Paris) was a French poet and woman of letters.
Life
Catherine Pozzi was born in an aristocratic and bourgeois environment at the end of the 19th century, to Samuel Pozzi, surgeon and gynecologist, and Thérèse Loth-Cazalis. Her well-educated family was friends with artists and writers, including José-Maria de Heredia and Paul BourgetPaul Bourget
Paul Charles Joseph Bourget , was a French novelist and critic.-Biography:He was born in Amiens in the Somme département of Picardie, France. His father, a professor of mathematics, was later appointed to a post in the college at Clermont-Ferrand, where Bourget received his early education...
. From a young age she was interested in music, and at age 11 started keeping a journal. She studied for a year in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
.
At the age of 19, she read the published diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
Marie Bashkirtseff
Marie Bashkirtseff was a Ukrainian-born diarist, painter and sculptor....
, and it had a profound effect upon her, spurring her to write intensely in her own journal.
At age 25, she married the popular dramatist Édouard Bourdet
Edouard Bourdet
Édouard Bourdet was a French playwright.Bourdet was born at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, and died in Paris.He was married to the poet, Catherine Pozzi; their son was Claude Bourdet.-Plays:* 1910 : Le Rubicon...
. In 1909 their son Claude
Claude Bourdet
Claude Bourdet , son of the dramatic author Édouard Bourdet, was a writer, journalist, polemist, and a militant French politician, who was born in 1909 and died in 1996 in Paris. He was a son of the poet Catherine Pozzi....
(later a member of the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
) was born.
Around 1910, she began to exhibit symptoms of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, from which she suffered until her death.
She began studying history, philosophy and religion, math and sciences as the student of Marie Jaëll
Marie Jaëll
Marie Jaëll was a French pianist, composer, and music teacher.She was born Marie Trautmann in Steinseltz, Bas-Rhin, and studied under Camille Saint-Saëns and César Franck. In 1862 she won first prize at the Paris Conservatory, where she was a student...
. In 1918, at the age of 37, she passed her baccalaureate. In that year, her father was assassinated by one of his former patients who was suffering from a paranoid delusion.
Friends of hers included Rainer Maria Rilke
Rainer Maria Rilke
René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke , better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian–Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language...
, Anna de Noailles, Jean Paulhan
Jean Paulhan
Jean Paulhan was a French writer, literary critic and publisher, director of the literary magazine Nouvelle Revue Française from 1925 to 1940 and from 1946 to 1968. He was a member of the Académie Française...
(editor of La Nouvelle Revue française), Colette
Colette
Colette was the surname of the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette . She is best known for her novel Gigi, upon which Lerner and Loewe based the stage and film musical comedies of the same title.-Early life and marriage:Colette was born to retired military officer Jules-Joseph...
, Henri de Régnier
Henri de Régnier
Henri François Joseph de Régnier was a French symbolist poet, considered one of the most important of France during the early 20th century....
, Pierre Jean Jouve
Pierre Jean Jouve
Pierre Jean Jouve was a French writer, novelist and poet. No more info at the moment.-References:...
.
She began in 1920 a tumultuous relationship with Paul Valéry
Paul Valéry
Ambroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. His interests were sufficiently broad that he can be classified as a polymath...
, which lasted eight years and gave rise to important correspondence. The rift between them distanced her from the Paris salons and caused her to have a terrible feeling of isolation.
She died in Paris on 3 December 1934, after illness with tuberculosis as well as morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
and laudanum
Laudanum
Laudanum , also known as Tincture of Opium, is an alcoholic herbal preparation containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight ....
use.
Work
Catherine Pozzi was particularly known for six withering poems, published in 1935 (Mesures), and which she considered her literary testament: "Ave", "Vale", "Scopolamine", "Nova", "Maya" and "Nyx". This last (Nyx means "night" in Greek) was composed on 5 November 1934, shortly before her death. She also left an anonymous autobiography: Agnès (NRF, 1927), and an unfinished philosophical essay: Peau d’Ame. Some scientific articles of hers appeared in Le FigaroLe Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
.
More recently, the publication of her Journal (1913–1934) and Journal de jeunesse (1893–1906) renewed interest in her. Her published correspondence with Paul Valéry
Paul Valéry
Ambroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. His interests were sufficiently broad that he can be classified as a polymath...
– that letters survived the desire expressed in Pozzi's will that they be destroyed – represents only a small portion of their exchanged letters.
Some of Pozzi's poems evoke those of Louise Labé
Louise Labé
Louise Labé, , also identified as La Belle Cordière, , was a female French poet of the Renaissance, born at Lyon, the daughter of a rich ropemaker, Pierre Charly, and his second wife, Etiennette Roybet...
, but their effect and tension seem to have little in common with the work of the 16th century.
Works
- Très haut amour (Poèmes et autres textes), Gallimard Poésie. ISBN 2-0704-2105-8
- Poèmes, Gallimard / Métamorphoses. ISBN 2-0702-5224-8
- Catherine Pozzi, Œuvre poétique, éd. Lawrence Joseph, Paris, La Différence, « Littérature », 1988.
- Agnès, Paris, La Différence, 1988, coll. "Minos", 2002. ISBN 2-72-911413-0
- Peau d'âme, prés. Lawrence Joseph, Paris, La Différence, « Philosophia perennis », 1990.
- Catherine Pozzi, Rainer Maria Rilke, Correspondance 1924-1925, prés. Lawrence Joseph, Paris, La Différence, « Littérature », 1990.
- Catherine Pozzi, Jean Paulhan, Correspondance 1926-1934, éd. Françoise Simonet-Tenant, Paris, C. Paulhan, « Pour mémoire », 1999.
- Catherine Pozzi et Jean Paulhan, Correspondance 1926-1934, Ed. Claire Paulhan 1999.
- La flamme et la cendre : Correspondance (Paul Valéry, Catherine Pozzi, Lawrence Joseph). Gallimard / Blanche 2006, 830 p. ISBN 2-0707-7254-3
- Catherine Pozzi, Journal de jeunesse : 1893-1906, éd. Claire Paulhan, ISBN 2-9122-2202-8
- Catherine Pozzi, Journal : 1913-1934, éd. et annot. Claire Paulhan, préf. Lawrence Joseph.
Paris, Ramsay, 1987 / Seghers, 1990 / C. Paulhan, « Pour mémoire », 1999. Réédité chez Phébus (édition augmentée, 798 p) : ISBN 2-7529-0044-9
Biographies
- Lawrence Joseph et Claire Paulhan : Catherine Pozzi, Une robe couleur du temps, Ed. de la Différence, 1988. ISBN 2-7291-0318-X
- Pierre Boutang, Karin Pozzi et la quête de l'immortalité, Paris, La Différence, « Mobile matière », 1991. ISBN 2-7291-0654-5
- Mireille Diaz-Florian: Catherine Pozzi. La vocation à la nuit. Préface de Claire Paulhan. Collection: "Le cercle des poètes disparus"Éditions Aden.2008
