The writer Colette created a vast oeuvre during her lifetime, including works in many genres.  She is renowned for her keen observations of her fellow humans and their relationships, their strengths and weaknesses, and the secrets they kept. As she put it, “the human face has always been my greatest landscape.” We will explore this landscape through a collection of short stories, from which we’ll draw on those that illustrate her important themes: love and relationships, nostalgia, innocence and corruption, country life in her native Burgundy, and the Paris scene of early the 20^th century. Class will be conducted in English.

Suggested Reading: Please purchase or obtain a copy of: The Collected Stories of Colette, Edited and with an introduction by Robert Phelps.  Available second hand on Amazon.

Jeanne Randorf fell in love with French and France at the age of 12. She went on to study in Strasbourg and Paris earning a BA and Master’s degree in French Literature. Decades later, she is still a Francophile and Francophone. She shared that love with high-school students for over 20 years. Now she travels to France once or twice a year – this time to visit all of Colette’s addresses in Burgundy and Paris.

Previous | Next