The Other Woman

by Colette

This volume brings together for the first time in English a collection including a series of stories and a novella, formed of a group of linked autobiographical pieces first published posthumously in France as Mon Amie Valentine.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Classics, France, Literature

143 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1971

About the author

Colette was the pen name of the French novelist and actress Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette. She is best known, at least in the English-speaking world, for her novella Gigi, which provided the plot for a famous Lerner & Loewe musical film and stage musical. She started her writing career penning the influential Claudine novels of books. The novel Chéri is often cited as her masterpiece.

Reviews

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

THESE ARE TO BE RELISHED...understand??? RELISHED!!!

There are 19 short stories here and what could be termed a "novella", which at FORTY pages is NOT really short
...while the "short" stories really ARE short being at 3, 4, 5 and 7 pages long.

The BEST thing, regardless of length, is that they are written by a consummate artist and collector of Human Nature - Colette!!!

And to add to that, being French, there is that unique way of viewing,
of sharply observing which is curious and amused yet open and non-judgemental. Of course not ALL French people are blessed with this virtue, the point is that Colette IS SO BLESSED.

So these especially short, consistently short, tales, are sharply and deftly drawn and complete; and cover such a range of places, situations and peoples...from animal lovers to murderers, deserted husbands to burglars, foxes to hens. And amazing how much can be revealed and left unsaid in such a small package.
And still be complete.

[shelby · Rating 5 out of 5]

far from disappointed by this flea market find! up until now, i had never read any colette and i don't think i was even familiar with her name; now i know better. after reading the first short story, i was immediately blown away by her preciseness and mastery of words. i'm truly inspired to write after reading these! the way she can so clearly paint and flesh out a story in no more than usually 4 small pages is astounding. definitely going to be rereading and learning some tips from these gems.

[Ella]

A collection of short stories, what we would now probably call flash fiction, and a novella. Can't rate because I felt very differently about all of them, but it was a generally enjoyable read. It was hard to stay in this book because I lost inertia after each story. I found that Colette is primarily concerned with the single moment in which your perception of someone you thought you knew very well changes completely.

[Black Cat]

Haven't read Colette in years and years. Still love her subtleties. Perfect summer reading.

[michaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was such a fun little goodwill find. i thought it sounded gay and it very much was gay. colettes prose is genuinely beautiful and her way of writing is so descriptive and moving; this was a collection of short stories, but they all still felt connected due to her steady and confident voice as an author.

among the short stories, my favorites were probably the victim and my friend valentine.

"He has everything, Madame, he has everything! And he can't do a single thing for me, Madame, not a thing-- he can't even make me unhappy." (from the victim) this line made my lesbian heart break and crack in two because of how real it was.

whenever interpreting classic literature as lesbian it's always scary that people are going to tell you you're wrong, but this is what i read it as and it was fucking fantastic. it spoke a lot to me

[Crito · Rating 5 out of 5]

Colette is at her strongest in her observational prose sketches. This collection is nothing but them. Ten thousand amateurs try and fail to produce sentences which are so effortless and near throwaway for Colette:

When she comes to my house I feel the wind rising and I half close my eyes as though I were by the sea. She comes in breathless and I look round.

This is from the novella which closes out the collection, and which speaks as a collision of Colette's younger and older selves as it was for Joyce's meeting of Dedalus and Bloom. So if you need an anchor point that is certainly it, in its compelling self-frankness. I always say Colette is one of my favorite writers despite not reading further than Cheri and Vagabond, but this is a good reminder that I wasn't hallucinating, she's just great.

[Mohammed omran · Rating 2 out of 5]

في السابعة والعشرين من عمرها. يومذاك، كانت تقول لزوجها الأول ويلي، أن لديها أشياء كثيرة في رأسها تريد أن تقولها، فكان يقول لها أن عليها، إذا أرادت أن تكتب حقاً، أن تنسى كل ذكريات المدرسة. كيف؟ «عبر رميها على الورق. لو سجلت كل تلك الذكريات على الورق وأخرجتها من داخلك. ستكونين قد كتبت أعمالاً أدبية حقيقية». في البداية لم تصدقه، لكنه كان يقول: «حاولي فلربما خرجت من كل هذا بشيء ما».

> حاولت الصبية يومذاك، وكتبت على الدفاتر التي اشتراها ويلي لها. كتبت كل ما كانت ذاكرتها تختزنه من ذكريات المراهقة في مدرسة القرية. ولكن، عندما قرأ ويلي ما كتبته لم يستطع أن يخفي خيبته، وقال لها: «لقد أخطأت التقدير... كل هذا لا يفيد شيئاً». غير أنه عاد بعد فترة وقرأ ما كتبته مجدداً، فوجد أنه «لا بأس به»، ثم أجرى فيه بعض التصحيحات وأرسل المخطوطة إلى الناشر. وهكذا ولدت أشهر كاتبات فرنسا في القرن العشرين. ولدت كوليت مع مطلع القرن وراحت كتبها تتتابع: كتبت أولاً سلسلة «كلودين»: «كولدين في المدرسة»، «كلودين في باريس»، «كلودين تتزوج»، «كلودين ترحل»... إلخ. وكانت المفاجأة الكبرى أن القراء أحبوا كلودين وأحبوا كوليت، لتصبح هذه الأخيرة هي شغل الناس الشاغل، ليس فقط ككاتبة بل كصاحبة فضائح أيضاً، إذ رحنا نراها حيناً تتحول إلى ممثلة وأحياناً إلى راقصة، وفي بعض الأحيان تتصور عارية. غير أن فضائحيتها لم تمنع فرنسا كلها من احترامها، وكذلك لم تحل زيجاتها الكثيرة بينها وبين متابعة نشاطها الأدبي. وهكذا رأيناها تكتب حتى عام 1940 (حين أقعدها المرض عن الكتابة) عشرات الروايات التي استقت معظمها من تجربتها الشخصية، وكانت على الدوام محط سجال بين النقاد: هل هي تنتمي فعلاً إلى الأدب الكبير، أم إن قيمتها تكمن فقط في جرعة الجرأة الزائدة فيها؟ والحال أن هذا السجال الذي لا يزال حتى اليوم قائماً حول أدب كوليت، هو هو السجال ذاته المثار حول الأدب النسائي في شكل عام. وأدب كوليت هو أدب نسائي بامتياز، ففيه حاولت الكاتبة على الدوام أن تتوغل في أعماق شخصياتها النسائية (التي تكاد تشبهها كلياً) وأن تدافع عن وضعية المرأة وعن حريتها، ولعل إمعانها في هذا الدفاع وانخراطها طوال سنوات عدة من حياتها في معركة الدفاع عن حرية المرأة، وخيباتها الزوجية المتكررة، كل هذا لعله جاء على حساب التعبير الأدبي الذي لم يكن كبيراً ومهمّاً لديها في أي حال. فهي، لئن كانت لها مكانتها، فإنها، مثلاً، لا تقارن بكاتبة من طراز مرغريت يورسنار أو لخاصة مرغريت دورا، هذا لكي نقصر الحديث على الكاتبات الفرنسيات دون غيرهن.

[Lana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Colette has a certain style of writing. In this collection her style seems to be blossom in some pieces, whilst in others it seems as if she was still testing her voice. Each vignette presents the outside view of slice of life, even in the first-person pronoun. It is only through the actions and subtle narrative is the internal life of the characters, the interest of each piece, made explicit. The themes of life, deep themes that exist within every culture, present or historical, are present here and will make an appearance out of the facile world Colette is created, if the reader is willing to accept it. Themes such as freedom and lust, fear and loathing, deep-rooted emotions, usually individualistic.

The one exception to this vignettes is the final autobiographical piece; My Friend Valentine. This longer piece is made up of smaller vignettes, but the vignettes don't wait to be understood, the characters Colette and Valentine explain the meaning to each other, in a way the meanings of these vignettes are easier to comprehend. But because the meanings are made explicit a new theme arises, the bond of these friends and their connection.

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

“...Doubtful for the first time, she asked herself What more did she want from him?”

-Alice, in The Other Wife




My review is based off of Colette’s The Other Wife.

—

I am new to Colette’s works, and though her writing style and voice are definitely different than those of my usual genres, I did quite enjoy her method of characterization via the use of literary subtext.

The Other Wife, is not very long yet it still provides such an intriguing character revelation. I also greatly admire the effect of the clear contrast of what the characters say and think versus what the narrator actually allows us to understand. It is very powerful in the sense of true characterization, and assisting the reader in understanding the depth of the literary subterfuge at place here.

Colette’s work The Other Wife is a great piece to analyze both narrator expanse, and characterization, and it is an important reminder that superficial features should not influence our decisions at large in this life.

[Kathryn Parmeter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleasant, lucid, deeply feminine. Erotic in detail and unconcerned with the profundity of her tale, delighting in the telling of it. Colette is an artist with profound self-confidence and can build a single scene with full dramatic arc in three pages. The reader doesn't even know she did it, consciously. I am struck by the artistry...and the stories, perhaps they are less apocalyptic in impact to any but her characters...but her eye, and her sensuality are enough to hold me. A charming, unapologetic narcissist, is our Colette...great dialogue with Valentine, too, the best girl-harsh-chat I've read in a long while.

[laurel · Rating 2 out of 5]

The short stories are primarily about the sad side of love, and are extremely short - averaging about 4 pages. The last is a series of sketches about Colette's antithesis Valentine. I liked her much better than the author's self-portrayal. Colette seems anti-monogamy, and one can't blame her after reading about her first husband, but still she goes a bit overboard. All the stories have sad twists, and not really twists, just strange developments. Maybe if they were more involved, I could have liked the stories.

[Hillary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't fault Colette for lack of cohesion in this anthology, since it was constructed and published posthumously. That being said, some stories feel weaker than others, and their brevity makes it that much more difficult to become invested. Once I'd gotten a hold of something, I had to move on to something else. It certainly was worth it for "The Hand," "The Other Wife," and of course the novella, which is a series of autobiographical sketches centered around her relationship with a friend she seems to both love and resent.

[Levi · Rating 4 out of 5]

a real treat and a surprize. i picked it up on a whim, read it on the bus, got home and found myself without keys & consequently locked out. good! this marvelous little book kept me warm inside and occupied with the tales of an assortment of lovers of one stripe or another. i intend to read more of this Colette!

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing, though still interesting. I liked and respected how short her short stories were, and some had really fascinating characters. Ultimately, though, I became disinterested.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

As usual, Colette's prose dazzles, but so many of the stories were only four pages long and I just couldn't get into them.

[Andrea Dowd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collette's collection of stories in "The Other Woman" are perfect tiny snapshots of imperfect men and women and is filled with her delightful descriptive prose.

[Yvonne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories by Colette. Interesting look at society and mores of early 20th century.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I mean I did enjoy some of the stories, but they seemed very repetitive and monotonous; none of the stories really stood out from the others. Thinking back I can hardly remember any of them...

[Sarah Hall Steiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

On a bit of a Colette jag right now.

[DilanAc · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the very short stories. Not so much the longer one My Valentine. It felt too personal, like Colette was writing strictly for herself.

[Daniel Barlekamp · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grabbed this on a whim from a Little Free Library because I like short stories and early 20th-century fiction. Other than the brief introduction, I had no context about Colette or French literature from this period, so I can't really give a detailed review. I will say, though, that I really enjoyed these stories. The four and five pagers hold up on their own, with full arcs and lots of characterization packed into a small space. It's impressive. However, the novella at the end lost me. The punch that defines the shorter stories started to fizzle for me about halfway through, like the same effect was diluted over a greater number of pages. Oh, well--it's just one of many stories in this collection.

At less than 150 pages, this is well worth a read if you're a fan of short fiction and/or this era of French literature. It's a pretty old paperback, though, so there's probably a more robust collection of Colette's work out there at this point.

[B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an absolutely stunning short story collection that more than withstood the test of time. The stories are beautifully written and beautifully translated and work to highlight the importance of moments and the necessity of focusing on the little things in life. I'd have to say that while I enjoyed "The Other Woman," my favorite short story in the collection was "Intoxicating Freedom," which worked to highlight the need for a person to have time that is all their own, without the constraints of the social roles of obligation placed upon a person when interacting in society with peers versus strangers.

[Madame Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 Starts off a little slow. The middle stories, "The Bracelet", "The Find", and "Mirror-Play" are excellent. Witty and well-detailed for just 3 pages each. The final story, "My Friend Valentine", is Colette and an imaginary character of her own ideas.

[Tiffany Lor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the style of writing in these short stories. A handful of them really resonated with me. One of my favorite opening lines: “They broke up in the same way as they had become close, without knowing why.” 🥲

[Maddison Colvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read on a single cross-country flight. Perfect length and piquancy (silly word maybe, but can't think of another) for it. This is my first Colette but it left me wanting to pick up more. It's a strange blend of cynicism and delight.

[Santa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ir tāda sajūta kā pēc nelielas šokolādes konfekšu kastes pabeigšanas. Katrs stāsts - maza, īpaša baudiņa.

[Gemma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ooo! I loved this story. Just a shot moment, but the silliness of how a thought can change behaviours, relationships, understandings. I just liked this scene. It was so vivid.

[Eleanor Vap · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love colette.

[yen nguyen]

read some of "L'autre femme"

[Siena Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fav stories were "mirror-play" "the judge" and "dawn"...subtle but timeless