Renée Vivien, une femme de lettres entre deux siècles (1877–1909) by Nicole G. Albert, and Brigitte Rollet, eds. (review)

This collection is the product of the 2009 journée d’étude commemorating the centenary of Renée Vivien’s passing. Coeditor Nicole Albert notes that this widely attended event in Paris attested to the interest that Vivien’s life and oeuvre continue to generate among scholars and the general public alike. Insofar as recent re-editions of her poetry (ErosOnyx Éditions) and academic studies of her work (Éditions Orizons) signal Vivien’s enduring influence “entre deux siècles,” this appropriately titled collection of essays and archival material will undoubtedly fuel such momentum.

The influence of Sapphic lyric poetry in Vivien’s work is a frequent theme among the works in this collection, and Marie-Ange Bartholomot Bessou’s article focuses specifically on the image of the Mytilene verger. Breaking from previous scholarship that considers the Sapphic orchard as a place of sensuality, Bartholomot Bessou argues that Vivien resurrects this gynocentric space in an attempt to privilege female aesthetic creation, knowledge, and collaboration. With a similar interest in feminine aesthetic influences, Mirande Lucien embarks on a comparative study of two versions of Vivien’s novel, Une femme m’apparut, from 1904 and 1905. Remaining conscious of the critical dangers of assuming the work is a fictionalized autobiography, Lucien attributes the major differences between the two texts to Vivien’s turbulent rupture with Natalie Barney and supplements her close readings with letters from Vivien’s archives. Also through a comparative lens, Anne-Marie Van Bockstaele examines the “échos poétiques” (33) between the works of Vivien and Lucie Delarue-Mardrus, and draws from an archived epistolary exchange between the two poets. Van Bockstaele argues that common themes of death, the lesbian body, and Sapphic poetics reflect larger questions of the construction of lesbian identity and a search for aesthetic immortality through poetry. Martine Reid proposes a reading of the short story collection La Dame à la louve from both feminist and queer theory approaches and demonstrates how Vivien dismantles the ostensible “nature” of sexual difference through the instability of the masculine narrative voice.

Patricia Izquierdo examines an atypical genre of Vivien’s oeuvre often overlooked by scholars: the ironic and burlesque “brochure humoristique.” Appearing as a collection of aphorisms, Vivien’s unconventional prose reveals a capacity for satire that is, for Izquierdo, invaluable to the complete study of both the writer and her work. Also neglected by Vivien scholars is the influence that her friendships with men had on her literary production. Nicolas Berger considers the mutual poetic stimulation that mentor Jean Charles-Brun and Vivien offered each other. Citing the symbolism of the Androgyne ideal in the works of both poets, Berger suggests that the friendship between Charles-Brun and Vivien was a source of inspiration for their respective aesthetic pursuits. Enrique Marini-Palmieri reflects on his time with Charles-Brun’s niece, Simone Burgues, studying and organizing the written correspondence between Charles-Brun and Vivien. A selection of these letters is reproduced in the appendix of this collection.

Appropriately, the final three essays each address questions of Vivien’s legacy across boundaries of time and geography. Nicole Albert provides detailed descriptions of works—feminist, queer, or otherwise—that pay homage to Vivien, either through direct dedications or thematic and stylistic imitations. Jean-Paul Goujon also examines Vivien’s far-reaching influences through a discussion of Maria-Mercè Marçal’s Catalan novel in which Vivien is the central figure. Published in 1995 and the recipient of multiple awards, the novel’s particular interest, according to Goujon, is that it provides an innovative literary perspective of Vivien’s life. Melanie Hawthorne concludes this section by examining the symbolism of visiting the grave of a deceased lesbian writer. Interested in what such a pilgrimage has to say about collective memory and lesbian invisibility, Hawthorne argues that Vivien’s...