Marguerite Yourcenar

by Josyane Savigneau

"Solitude... Je ne crois pas comme ils croient, je ne vis pas comme ils vivent, je n'aime pas comme ils aiment... Je mourrai comme ils meurent", écrivait Marguerite Yourcenar à trente ans. Personnage principal d'un roman patiemment construit - sa vie -, Marguerite Yourcenar, première femme à entrer à l'Académie française, a traversé le siècle avec une liberté singulière, aventureuse, obstinée.

Genres: Biography, France, Nonfiction

800 pages, Pocket Book

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Ilse · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very lengthy, detailed, thoroughly documentated account of the fascinating and often surprisingly unconventional life of Marguerite Yourcenar, née Marguerite Cleenewerck de Crayencour (Brussels, 1903- Bar Harbor, Maine 1987)- a passionate, freedom-loving writer far removed from the image of the incredibly erudite, secular nun I had of hers.



Review under construction.

[Marc Lamot · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my twenties I was completely blown away by the books of Marguerite Yourcenar (1903-1987): Mémoires d'Hadrien and L'Œuvre au noir were among the best I had read up to that point. I also devoured her family histories (the three volumes of Le Labyrinthe du monde). But it was especially the book of interviews with her by French critic Mathieu Galley (Les Yeux ouverts : Entretiens avec Matthieu Galey/With Open Eyes: Conversations With Matthieu Galey, 1980) that charmed me: Yourcenar emerged from it as a very idiosyncratic, thoughtful observer and commentator on the phenomenon of mankind, on life, and on literature in general. I was particularly intrigued by her vision of the immutability of man throughout history, a vision that stood and stands in stark contrast to the still prevailing paradigm that mankind is constantly advancing, not only in its circumstances but also in its essence.

Josyanne Savigneau's biography was published in 1990, a few years after Yourcenar's death. The voluminous book (700 pages) had been waiting on my bookshelf for more than 2 decades but due to family and professional concerns I didn't get around to reading it. Also, the fear that my idol would be dethroned from her pedestal undoubtedly played a part in that. And now that I've read it: that fear was justified! Not that Savigneau has made a distasteful portrait of Yourcenar that testifies to a love of spectacle and a lack of respect. No, not at all: the gigantic personality that Yourcenar was and her great literary merit, are portrayed accurately. But Savigneau has made a sincere attempt to portray the whole person Marguerite Yourcenar, with her good and her less good sides.

At the time, after the publication of the biography, there immediately was a scandal that she had focused so much on Yourcenar's relationship with Grace Frick, and in her last years with Jerry Wilson. And it is true: both receive a lot of attention (especially Grace), and in my opinion rightly so, because they highlight aspects of Yourcenar’s personality that are relevant, also for her work.

What struck me most in this biography are Yourcenar’s little quirks: she was headstrong, stubborn, haughty, hypochondriac, could treat people very disparagingly and even seemed to come close to what you might call a narcissistic personality. That doesn’t sound nice, I know. But Savigneau constantly emphasizes how much Yourcenar took control of her own memory and manipulated it, to the point of blatant lies and distortions. It is that overall character trait, that obsession with bending the things and people around her to her will that is also relevant to her work, I think. It was not the objective biography of Hadrian that interested her in Mémoires d’Hadrien, nor the correct representation of Europe ravaged by religious wars in L'Oeuvre au Noir. But it was an idiosyncratic reconstruction of what for her is the ever-searching, struggling, clinging person in a world full of permanent uncertainties. It is also what makes her one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.

This is a great biography (the only pity is the lack of the photographs that are regularly referred to). Savigneau has made an honest attempt to reconstruct the person Marguerite Yourcenar, with the sources that she had at her disposal at the time. In that regard, it is typical that Yourcenar forbade access to her personal archive until 50 years after her death. I hope that I may live to see it released in 2037 and possibly shed new light on this giant of French literature.

[Emilio Berra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yourcenar, eccezionalmente
"... ho il dono di rallegrarmi con poco: la natura che mi circonda, il silenzio, sedere accanto al fuoco, leggere... Compiere i gesti quotidiani quasi come un rito." (M. Yourcenar)

J. Savigneau, autrice di questa bellissima e interessantissima biografia di Marguerite Yourcenar, conobbe la celebre letterata in occasione di un'intervista per il giornale Le Monde, quando la scrittrice era ormai molto anziana e diventata quasi un mito di riferimento a livello internazionale. Ne nacque una frequentazione, quasi un'amicizia duratura. Ciò la introdusse nel piccolo mondo dell'isola des Monts-Deserts, nel Nord-Atlantico americano, dove la Yourcenar viveva da lunghi decenni : "In questa piccola isola (...) sto, insomma, negli Stati Uniti come non ci fossi", scriveva. Abitava in una casa in legno, tutta dipinta di bianco, circondata da un ampio terreno, in cui poteva provare il piacere di "leggere il greco sotto i meli in fiore".

La giornalista, dopo la morte di Marguerite, fu pertanto facilitata nella raccolta di testimonianze dirette, particolarmente preziose e attendibili.
Il libro, documentatissimo, si basa inoltre su diari, taccuini, lettere, interviste, documenti pubblici e privati di ogni sorta.
Tanta ricchezza di informazione, unita a professionalità ed equilibrio, hanno condotto la biografa ad un imparziale lavoro di scavo e approfondimento, senza alcun cedimento di tipo agiografico.
La scrittura altamente divulgativa rende la lettura di questo libro assai gradevole, direi accattivante.
Si tratta insomma di una delle biografie più belle che sia dato di leggere, un testo che si scorre come un romanzo avvincente ; ma non c'è nulla di romanzato : la vita di M. Yourcenar è stata già di per sé eccezionale, in tutti i sensi.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

J’ai longtemps ignoré Marguerite Yourcenar, mais elle a su voler mon cœur avec Mémoires d’Hadrien, un jour où elle ne m’attendait plus. En dépit du coup de foudre et des titres qui ont suivi, dont L'Œuvre au noir, et malgré tous les documents d’archives disponibles en ligne au sujet de l’autrice, entre autres son entrevue télévisée avec Bernard Pivot, ce n’est pas avant aujourd’hui que j’ai pris le temps de m’arrêter et de rencontrer Marguerite elle-même.

Cette biographie nous la présente simplement, mais en traduisant bien la profonde richesse de ses aventures au sein du monde littéraire. On la voit dans son jardin, à Mont-Désert; on la suit un peu partout à travers le monde, au fil des époques, des contrats et des amitiés; on rencontre la femme, l’artiste, la voyageuse, depuis sa tendre enfance, esquivant toute scolarité formelle à la barbe des réussites qui allaient pourtant un jour devenir les siennes.

Je conserverai de cette biographie l’image d’un esprit libre non seulement donnant vie, mais conversant dans son imaginaire pour le reste de ses jours avec ses personnages les plus prégnants, notamment Hadrien et Zénon, étendant leur existence bien au-delà des pages qui les ont fait connaître au monde.

Celle d’une hippie avant l’heure, convaincue et entière, qui ne ressent même pas la nécessité de combattre de traditionnels carcans pour ne les avoir elle-même jamais subis, mais prenant cause par conviction personnelle, et bien avant le légitime tapage médiatique d’aujourd’hui, en faveur de l’environnement.

Celle d’une rebelle à bien d'autres égards, entre autres pour avoir été la première femme invitée à joindre les rangs de l’Académie française sous les bons soins de Jean d’Ormesson, alors qu’elle habite non la France mais la Nouvelle-Angleterre, faisant même de cet honneur doublement inhabituel l’occasion d’affirmer son émancipation, se jouant habilement — et insolemment — de toute formalité qu’elle n’endosse pas.

Marguerite Yourcenar est son propre personnage, qu’elle a créé de toutes pièces en commençant par l’anagramme de son nom de famille. Autant à la maison que d’un aéroport à l’autre, cette biographie fait de sa vie un récit proprement fascinant.

[James Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marguerite Yourcenar is one of my favorite authors and has been so ever since I first read Memoirs of Hadrian. I went on to read several of her other novels and literary essays. Included with Memoirs of Hadrian in my list of favorites are both Alexis and Fires, short, beautiful and uncommon novels. Her prose always demonstrated exquisite precision, often with a poetic quality, and her interest in the classical world was of particular interest. She became the first and only woman to be admitted to the Académie Fançaise in 1980.
Josyane Savigneau's biography is a worthy companion to these works. The subtitle, "Inventing a Life", is appropriate on many levels beginning with her reincarnation as Marguerite Yourcenar in her teens (a nome de plume created as an acronym of her given name of Crayencour) to her years in France followed by decades spent in America. She lived in Maine for 42 years with her lover, the American academian Grace Frick, whom she met in 1937, and with whom she was to live until Frick's death from breast cancer in 1979. That this relationship was bookended by relationships with young men is just one of the many contradictions present in the long life of Marguerite Yourcenar. She was living in the US in June 1940, when the Germans invaded France, and there she was to remain for most of her life. All of this and more is shared in this biography that details the life of learning and love that produced some of the most beautiful prose works of the twentieth century.

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a long biography of such a prolific reader, there is little mention of the books Yourcenar read, even ones she reviewed. Despite this, over five-hundred pages I gleaned that she considered to be personal touchstones Mann's Holy Sinner and Montherlant's Chaos and Night. She reread Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd annually for a long period before writing Hadrian, and in her last years returned repeatedly to Gandhi's Autobiography.

Likewise Yourcenar's obviously weird politics are glanced over, or at least her wide-ranging interests in radical politics. Savigneau interviews a friend who insists on Yourcenar's liberal voting record in the States, and the matter is uneasily dropped. I have a hard time reconciling this with her fondness for occultic right-wing extremists like Mishima, Jung and (of all people) Evola.

Even her religious sympathies are downplayed. Savigneau casts her as a virulent hater of dogmatism, and yet this is not exactly truthful either. One of the most captivating anecdotes in Yourcenar's book of interviews is about her charmed encounter with Harlem cult-leader Father Divine!

All in all, this is a rather dull but informative biography of a great writer whose personality is better approached through her memoirs, essays and interviews.

[Marine Fourty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une fascinante biographie.

[Leila Silva Terlinchamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marguerite teve uma vida interessante de ler, na verdade eu gosto de biografias de escritores, mas a dela é particularmente deliciosa. Era uma mulher de extrema inteligência, nunca botou os pés numa escola, foi educada em casa, pelo pai (a mãe morreu quando ela era ainda um bebê) e às vezes, por professores contratados. Fez o BAC (exame francês), mas passou com nota 'razoável'. Ao que parece pensava em fazer Letras ou filosofia, não se sabe se os resultados dos exames a desanimaram ou se preferiu mesmo outros caminhos, as viagens, por exemplo. Foram muitas: Grécia, Itália, França, Bélgica (país onde ela nasceu), Inglaterra e muitos outros.

O pai era um bom leitor e permitia que Marguerite tivesse acesso à sua biblioteca, sem restrições, o que irritava alguns membros da família que achavam que ele devia selecionar o que a menina podia e devia ler. Assim cresceu ela muito livre, uma personalidade autoritária até. Começou a viajar cedo, com o próprio pai que a deixava nos hotéis e ia para os cassinos e assim foi acabando com boa parte da fortuna da família. Marguerite parecia não se importar muito com este detalhe.

Marguerite, embora tenha tido paixões também por homens, viveu a maior parte de sua vida com mulheres, a mais longa dessas relações foi com Grace Frick, mais de 40 anos. Viveram juntas nos Estados Unidos, Marguerite Yourcenar adquiriu a nacionalidade americana. Ela conheceu Grace em Paris, em um café aonde Marguerite ia, aparentemente, para encontrar mulheres. Grace traduziu alguns trabalhos de Marguerite para o inglês e a ajudava também na organização dos papéis, cartas, anotações.

Outro detalhe importante da biografia (que eu já sabia muito antes de ler aqui) é que M. Yourcenar foi a primeira mulher a fazer parte da Academia francesa, isso em 1980. Agora, o que eu não sabia é que, mesmo tendo sido tão tarde a entrada da primeira mulher ali, isso não se fez sem muita briga, muitos rumores, muita polêmica. E tem gente que ainda acha que as mulheres reclamam à toa, ok! É neste capítulo da entrada na academia que estou agora, cito um fato estarrecedor (pelo menos para mim), Claude Lévi-Strauss foi terminantemente contra a entrada dela na confraria alegando o seguinte “Não se mudam as regras da tribo”.

[R.J. Gilmour · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally finished reading Josyane Savigneau's biography of Marguerite Yourcenar. Marguerite Yourcenar: Inventing a Life (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993) I don't remember which magazine had originally prompted me to read about Yourcenar (I think it was the New Yorker I read on the train ride to New York City a couple of weeks ago) but absolutely enjoyed Savigneau's biography of Yourcenar. I remember I was intriqued by the New Yorker review because it had spoken of Yourcenar as an outcast lesbian woman who had flirtations with gay males in her old age. I was absolutely enthralled and had to know about this person. I had never yet read any of her material and to learn that she was also the first woman championed into the Academie Français was also interesting. Savigneau's biography although devoid of a whole collection of materials that are sealed until sometime in the 2030s none the less is very kind to Yourcenar and attempts to understand the woman through her own relationship and meeting with Yourcenar late in her life and through critical readings of Yourcenar's literary oeuvre. I found the book emmensly exciting and read a little each night. The life that she established for herself on Deer Mountain Island in Maine at her little house Petite Plaisance with her partner of over 40 years Grace Frick is charming. Indeed Savigneau paints a marvellous portrait of the house and what it must have been like for the two women to live there together all through the 1970s and 1980s. Savigneau's recounting of Yourcenar's life and her attempts at constructing herself right from her bizarre youth with a wandering and philandering father, to her obsessions with young gay men and then her love for Grace Frick is truly remarkable and very French in tone. I believe that Yourcenar would have appreciated Savigneau's attempts to come to know her through her biography. I must admit I really enjoy Yourcenar's style of writing.

[Micebyliz]

I'm reading with benefit of the flu, or what might be. so far it's good, a bit sloggy though (or maybe i am)
There are a few typos and other errors which i find annoying but again, what do i know?
i absolutely loved Hadrian. It's teetering on the edge of replacing my top novel of all time.
i hope this bio picks up. I'm really interested to know more about her.

so now the book is airing on the porch because i detected perfume or something equally horrid.
Finally finished. It was a long, long read. I had such hopes for this biography..I know it's lengthy and detailed and well-researched, but i wanted something more lively. I really didn't know anything about her, i know more about the people she knew. She comes across as haughty and arrogant. I do not understand why she and Frick isolated themselves in America and did not make attempts to be neighbors and friends here. There are some fascinating details though and i appreciated the work that went into writing this tome, but my head fell over several times and i had to slog ahead, you know? Maybe it's because i just wasn't feeling well.

[Donal · Rating 4 out of 5]

She puts a lot of words into Yourcenar's mouth. And has some very long, untypical, uncited, passages that purport to be quotations from André Fraigneau but which I can't locate.

To be read with caution I think.