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Rites of passion
SHE lived as she wrote, with unrestrained passion. French writer
Francoise Sagan, who died on September 24 at Honfleur in Normandy, had
shot to literary fame at 18 with her first novel Bonjour Tristresse. Sagan
produced more than 40 novels and plays. It was her first, Bonjour
Tristesse, considered an anthem to disillusioned youth, which became
one of the best-known books of the 20th century. She was paid 500,000
francs for the novel, a good sum then Born on June 21, 1935, in
southwest France, she moved to Paris after World War II and chose her nom-de-plume
from a character in Marcel Prousts’ Rememberance of Things Past. A
Certain Smile was about a student’s love affair with a middle-aged
man. A succession of other books over the years confirmed the themes of
love, loneliness and the pursuit of pleasure. She once said her books
spoke essentially about loneliness and how to get rid of it. Making no
secret of her hedonistic leanings and described gambling as a
"passion, a pleasure, a mad amusement — physical, nervous,
invigorating, gay!" Trademark blond hair, cigarette and left-wing
politics distinguished this writer who lived life to the hilt. Over
the Shoulder, her last book, was written in 1996.
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