Françoise Sagan
Encyclopedia
Françoise Sagan – real name Françoise Quoirez – was a French playwright, novelist, and screenwriter
. Hailed as "a charming little monster" by François Mauriac
on the front page of Le Figaro
, Sagan was known for works with strong romantic themes involving wealthy and disillusioned bourgeois characters. Her best-known novel was her first – Bonjour Tristesse
(1954) – which was written when she was a teenager.
(Lot
) and spent her early childhood in Lot
, surrounded by animals, a passion that stayed with her throughout her life. Nicknamed 'Kiki', she was the spoilt youngest child of bourgeois parents – her father a company director, and her mother the daughter of landowners. Her family spent the war in the Dauphiné
, then in the Vercors. She failed the entrance examinations to the Sorbonne
in 1953. Though notorious all her life for her extravagant lifestyle, she would later attend school there but without graduating.
Her first novel, Bonjour Tristesse
(Hello Sadness), was published in 1954, when she was 19 years old, and it was an immediate international success. It concerns the life of pleasure-driven 17-year-old Cécile, in particular her relationship with her boyfriend and her adulterous, playboy father. The novel allegedly influenced the Simon & Garfunkel song "The Sounds of Silence," the first words of which, "Hello darkness", echo Sagan's title. Her pseudonym was taken from a character ("Princesse de Sagan") in Marcel Proust
's À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time
).
Sagan's characters became something of an icon for disillusioned teenagers, in some ways similar to those of J.D. Salinger. During a literary career lasting until 1998, she produced dozens of works, many of which have been filmed. She maintained the austere style of the French psychological novel even while the nouveau roman
was in vogue. The conversations between her characters are often considered to contain existential
undertones. In addition to novels, plays, and autobiography, she wrote song lyrics and screenplays.
In the 1960s, Sagan became more devoted to writing plays, which, though lauded for excellent dialogue, were only moderately successful. Afterward, she concentrated on her career as a novelist.
Fond of traveling in the United States, she was often seen with Truman Capote
and Ava Gardner
. On 14 April 1957, while driving her Aston-Martin sports car, she was involved in an accident that left her in a coma for some time. She also loved driving her Jaguar automobile to Monte Carlo
to gambling sessions.
In the 1990s Sagan was charged with and convicted of possession of cocaine
.
At various times of her life, Sagan was addicted to a number of drugs. She was a long-term user of prescription pills, amphetamines, cocaine, morphine, and alcohol. When the police came for an inspection of her house, her dog Banko showed cocaine to them and also licked the cocaine. Sagan told the police, "Look! He likes it too."
, and she received a suspended sentence
. Françoise Sagan died of a pulmonary embolism
in Honfleur
, Calvados, on 24 September 2004 at the age of 69. At her own request she was buried at her beloved birthplace, Cajarc.
In his memorial statement, the French President Jacques Chirac
said: "With her death, France loses one of its most brilliant and sensitive writers – an eminent figure of our literary life."
, directed by Diane Kurys
, released in France on 11 June 2008. The French actress Sylvie Testud
played the title role.
Published posthumously by L'Herne:
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
. Hailed as "a charming little monster" by François Mauriac
François Mauriac
François Mauriac was a French author; member of the Académie française ; laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature . He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur .-Biography:...
on the front page of Le Figaro
Le 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...
, Sagan was known for works with strong romantic themes involving wealthy and disillusioned bourgeois characters. Her best-known novel was her first – Bonjour Tristesse
Bonjour Tristesse
Bonjour Tristesse is a novel by Françoise Sagan. Published in 1954, when the author was only 18, it was an overnight sensation...
(1954) – which was written when she was a teenager.
Biography
Sagan was born in CajarcCajarc
Cajarc is a commune in the Lot department in south-western France.It is a stopping place on the Via podensis, the medieval pilgrimage route from Le Puy to Santiago de Compostela, but also attracts tourists on account of its medieval town centre, its plan d'eau, a 4 km-long dammed section of...
(Lot
Lot (département)
Lot is a department in the southwest of France named after the Lot River.- History :Lot is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the province of Languedoc. In 1808, some of the original southeastern cantons were...
) and spent her early childhood in Lot
Lot (département)
Lot is a department in the southwest of France named after the Lot River.- History :Lot is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the province of Languedoc. In 1808, some of the original southeastern cantons were...
, surrounded by animals, a passion that stayed with her throughout her life. Nicknamed 'Kiki', she was the spoilt youngest child of bourgeois parents – her father a company director, and her mother the daughter of landowners. Her family spent the war in the Dauphiné
Dauphiné
The Dauphiné or Dauphiné Viennois is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of :Isère, :Drôme, and :Hautes-Alpes....
, then in the Vercors. She failed the entrance examinations to the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
in 1953. Though notorious all her life for her extravagant lifestyle, she would later attend school there but without graduating.
Her first novel, Bonjour Tristesse
Bonjour Tristesse
Bonjour Tristesse is a novel by Françoise Sagan. Published in 1954, when the author was only 18, it was an overnight sensation...
(Hello Sadness), was published in 1954, when she was 19 years old, and it was an immediate international success. It concerns the life of pleasure-driven 17-year-old Cécile, in particular her relationship with her boyfriend and her adulterous, playboy father. The novel allegedly influenced the Simon & Garfunkel song "The Sounds of Silence," the first words of which, "Hello darkness", echo Sagan's title. Her pseudonym was taken from a character ("Princesse de Sagan") in Marcel Proust
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...
's À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time
In Search of Lost Time
In Search of Lost Time or Remembrance of Things Past is a novel in seven volumes by Marcel Proust. His most prominent work, it is popularly known for its considerable length and the notion of involuntary memory, the most famous example being the "episode of the madeleine." The novel is widely...
).
Sagan's characters became something of an icon for disillusioned teenagers, in some ways similar to those of J.D. Salinger. During a literary career lasting until 1998, she produced dozens of works, many of which have been filmed. She maintained the austere style of the French psychological novel even while the nouveau roman
Nouveau roman
The nouveau roman is a type of 1950s French novel that diverged from classical literary genres. Émile Henriot coined the title in an article in the popular French newspaper Le Monde on May 22, 1957 to describe certain writers who experimented with style in each novel, creating an essentially new...
was in vogue. The conversations between her characters are often considered to contain existential
Existentialism
Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
undertones. In addition to novels, plays, and autobiography, she wrote song lyrics and screenplays.
In the 1960s, Sagan became more devoted to writing plays, which, though lauded for excellent dialogue, were only moderately successful. Afterward, she concentrated on her career as a novelist.
Personal life
Sagan was married twice: to Guy Schoeller (married 13 March 1958, an editor with Hachette, 20 years older than Sagan, divorced June 1960) and to Bob Westhof (a young American playboy and would-be ceramicist, married 10 January 1962, divorced 1963; their son Denis was born in June 1963). She took a lesbian long-term lover, fashion stylist Peggy Roche, and had a male lover, Bernard Frank, a married essayist obsessed with reading and eating. She added to her self-styled "family" by beginning a long-term lesbian affair with the French Playboy magazine editor Annick Geille, after she approached Sagan for an article for her magazine.Fond of traveling in the United States, she was often seen with Truman Capote
Truman Capote
Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...
and Ava Gardner
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner was an American actress.She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers . She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, considered one of the most beautiful women of her day...
. On 14 April 1957, while driving her Aston-Martin sports car, she was involved in an accident that left her in a coma for some time. She also loved driving her Jaguar automobile to Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
to gambling sessions.
In the 1990s Sagan was charged with and convicted of possession of cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
.
At various times of her life, Sagan was addicted to a number of drugs. She was a long-term user of prescription pills, amphetamines, cocaine, morphine, and alcohol. When the police came for an inspection of her house, her dog Banko showed cocaine to them and also licked the cocaine. Sagan told the police, "Look! He likes it too."
Death
Her health was reported to be poor in the 2000s. In 2002 she was unable to appear at a trial that convicted her of tax fraud in a case involving the former French President François MitterrandFrançois Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
, and she received a suspended sentence
Suspended sentence
A suspended sentence is a legal term for a judge's delaying of a defendant's serving of a sentence after they have been found guilty, in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation...
. Françoise Sagan died of a pulmonary embolism
Pulmonary embolism
Pulmonary embolism is a blockage of the main artery of the lung or one of its branches by a substance that has travelled from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream . Usually this is due to embolism of a thrombus from the deep veins in the legs, a process termed venous thromboembolism...
in Honfleur
Honfleur
Honfleur is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie...
, Calvados, on 24 September 2004 at the age of 69. At her own request she was buried at her beloved birthplace, Cajarc.
In his memorial statement, the French President Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
said: "With her death, France loses one of its most brilliant and sensitive writers – an eminent figure of our literary life."
Film
Sagan's life was dramatized in a biographical film, SaganSagan (film)
Sagan is a 2008 French biographical film, directed by Diane Kurys, starring Sylvie Testud as French author Françoise Sagan and Pierre Palmade as a dancer and a society man, Jacques Chazot, who was very well known in France...
, directed by Diane Kurys
Diane Kurys
Diane Kurys is a French filmmaker and actress. Several of her films as director are autobiographical. Born in Lyon, Rhône, France, her parents divorced when she was a child. She began as an actress with Jean-Louis Barrault's company. She gained film stardom, but didn't like the roles she was...
, released in France on 11 June 2008. The French actress Sylvie Testud
Sylvie Testud
Sylvie Testud is a French actress, writer and director. Her film career began in 1991. She was later highly acclaimed, and has twice won César Awards.-Biography:...
played the title role.
Quotes
- "To jealousy, nothing is more frightful than laughter."
- When asked if she believed in love: "Are you joking? I believe in passion. Nothing else. Two years, no more. All right, then: three.”
- "A dress makes no sense unless it inspires men to want to take it off you."
- "I have loved to the point of madness, that which is called madness, that which to me is the only sensible way to love."
- "La vitesse n’est ni un signe, ni une preuve, ni une provocation, ni un défi, mais un élan de bonheur" (Speed is no sign, no proof, no provocation, no challenge, but rather a surge of happiness); quote from her book "Avec mon meilleur souvenir"
Novels
- Bonjour tristesseBonjour tristesseBonjour Tristesse is a 1958 film directed and produced by Otto Preminger from a screenplay by Arthur Laurents based on the novel of the same title by Françoise Sagan. The film stars Deborah Kerr, David Niven, Jean Seberg, Mylène Demongeot and Geoffrey Horne, and features Juliette Gréco, Walter...
(1954, (Hello Sadness), translated 1955) - Un certain sourire (1955, A Certain SmileA Certain SmileA Certain Smile , written in a two month period then published in 1956, is Françoise Sagan's second book. It tells of a student's love affair with a middle-aged man.-Plot introduction:...
, translated 1956) - Dans un mois, dans un an (1957, Those Without Shadows, translated 1957)
- Aimez-vous Brahms?Aimez-vous Brahms?Aimez-vous Brahms is a novel by Françoise Sagan, first published in 1959. It was published in the USA in 1960, and was made into a film under the title Goodbye Again in 1961 starring Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Perkins...
(1959, translated 1960) - Les merveilleux nuages (1961, Wonderful Clouds, translated 1961)
- La chamadeLa chamadeLa Chamade is a 1965 novel by French playwright and novelist Françoise Sagan.It was adapted into a 1968 movie starring Catherine Deneuve and Michel Piccoli.-Plot summary:...
(1965, translated 1966 as La Chamade; newly translated 2009 as That Mad Ache) - Le garde du cœur (1968, The Heart-Keeper, translated 1968)
- Un peu de soleil dans l'eau froide (1969, Sunlight on Cold Water, translated 1971)
- Des bleus à l'âme (1972, Scars on the Soul, translated 1974)
- Un profil perdu (1974, Lost Profile, translated 1976)
- Le lit défait (1977, The Unmade Bed, translated 1978)
- Le chien couchant (1980, translated 1984)
- La femme fardée (1981, The Painted Lady, translated 1983)
- Un orage immobile (1983, The Still Storm, translated 1984)
- De guerre lasse (1985, Engagements of the Heart, translated 1987)
- Un sang d'aquarelle (1987, Painting in Blood, translated 1991)
- La laisse (1989, The Leash, translated 1991)
- Les faux-fuyants (1991, Evasion, translated 1993)
- Un chagrin de passage (1994, A Fleeting Sorrow, translated 1995)
- Le miroir égaré (1996)
Short story collections
- Les yeux de soie (1975, Silken Eyes, translated 1977)
- Musiques de scène (1981, Incidental Music, translated 1983)
- La maison de Raquel Vega (1985)
Plays
- Château en Suède (Château in Sweden) (1960)
- Les violons parfois (1961)
- La robe mauve de Valentine (1963)
- Bonheur, impair et passe (1964)
- L'écharde (1966)
- Le cheval évanoui (1966)
- Un piano dans l'herbe (1970)
- Il fait beau jour et nuit (1978)
- L'excès contraire (1987)
Autobiographical works
- Toxique (1964, journal, translated 1965)
- Réponses (1975, Night Bird: Conversations with Françoise Sagan, translated 1980)
- Avec mon meilleur souvenir (1984, With Fondest Regards, translated 1985)
- Au marbre: chroniques retrovées 1952–1962 (1988, chronicles)
- Répliques (1992, interviews)
- ...Et toute ma sympathie (1993, a sequel to Avec mon meilleur souvenir)
- Derrière l'épaule (1998, autobiography)
Published posthumously by L'Herne:
- Bonjour New-York (2007)
- Un certain regard (2008, compilation of material from Réponses and Répliques)
- Maisons louées (2008)
- Le régal des chacals (2008)
- Au cinéma (2008)
- De très bons livres (2008)
- La petite robe noire (2008)
- Lettre de Suisse (2008)
Biographical works
- Brigitte Bardot (1975)
- Sarah Bernhardt, ou le rire incassable (1987, Dear Sarah Bernhardt, translated 1988)
External links
- Jean-Louis de RamburesJean-Louis de RamburesJean-Louis Vicomte de Bretizel Rambures was a French journalist, author, translator of literature, literary critic, and cultural attaché.- Life :...
, interview with F. Sagan (in French) in: "Comment travaillent les écrivains", Paris 1978 - Litweb.net
- French press bids farewell; BBC article