Florie

When two stories by Colette first appeared in print in 1946, they were already seven years old: both had been written just before World War II.

The first of these stories takes place in the world Colette knew so well from her own experience: the theatre, the revue. Florie, a veteran of thirty years, falls in love with a juggler many years her junior, but their love fails to survive. Not because the young man doesn't answer her feelings for him- because he does. Not because the age difference raises too many eyebrows- that is no problem. The problem is that he neglected his work as a result of his infatuation. Colette allows her own sense of discipline to resound in Florie's: work comes before all else, and Florie breaks off the relationship.

Colette herself worked hard all her life. At first- under pressure from her first husband- on a long series of popular novels about the romantic life of the adolescent Claudine, and later- after her divorce - as an actress. She even performed as a pantomime dancer in the famous nightclub Moulin Rouge, a performance that led to police intervention due to her lesbian behaviour. These lesbian adventures were in part the result of machinations on the part of her husband Henri Gauthier-Villars (known as Willy), who took pleasure in witnessing such scenes. Colette often became involved in provocative and unusual situations: during her second marriage to Henri de Jouvenal, for instance, she took his son Bertrand as her lover. Hers was a life full of memories, which she didn't always document believably later in life.

Sensuality and aging of the body

Colette documented the sensuality of women and the aging of the body for eternity. The second, short story in this 'edition originale' (first edition) deals with the rivalry between two women, the friends Clara and Antoinette, only one of whom could win. At stake were the favours of a man: Antoinette is victorious and goes travelling, after which Clara grows bored. It is completely unimportant that she fails to win over the man, but the fact that she now must miss the stimulating sense of rivalry with her friend makes her deeply sad.

Florie was published by the Éditions de la Joie de vivre in 1946. Colette never referred to it in her correspondence from that period. The edition contains ten etchings by Louis Touchagues. Touchagues hailed from the Rhône area, and after studying in Lyon, he started to train as a draughtsman, did an internship with an architect, and learned how to design decorations and fabrics, which he would produce for many plays and operas. He debuted as an illustrator on an exhibition initiated by Gus Bofa, focusing on deluxe and semi-deluxe books. His style was defined by a certain form of abstraction and black-and-white contrasts, inspired by various artists such as Watteau, Frogonard and Toulouse Lautrec. He also produced portraits of prominent Parisians.