Jean Bertheroy
Berthe Jeanne Le Barillier, known by her pen name Jean Bertheroy, was a French classicist and writer. First noted for her poetry, she turned to the historical novel and then the modern novel. Her work, although largely forgotten, is served by a sober style and very solid documentation. The most substantial part of her work is probably that devoted to Roman antiquity. Bertheroy was a three-time laureate of the Académie Française.
Early life and education
Berthe Jeanne Le Barillier was born in Bordeaux, France, 24 July 1858, to Jeanne Laure Elisabeth Fabre, and Hyacinthe Édouard François Le Barillier,She was a student of the classics.
Career
Bertheroy became known to the literary world by a book of verse, Les Vibrations, which she published in 1887 under the name of "Jean Bertheroy". Three years later, a second book of verse, Les Femmes antiques, received a prize by the Académie française.A successful novelist in her time, Bertheroy's novels fell into two categories: modern novels such as Le Roman d'une âme, Double Joug, Sur la Pente, Le Mirage, and Le Rachat; and novels of antiquity, notably Cléopatre, La Danseuse de Pompei, Les Vierges de Syracuse, and La Beauté d'Alcias. Novels of antiquity had been brought into vogue by the Thaïs of Anatole France and the Aphrodite – mœurs antiques of Pierre Louys, in imitation of which many poor ones were written. Bertheroy's, however, are excellent, and the best one of them is probably La Danseuse de Pompei. La Beauté d'Alcias contains admirable descriptions of the Eginian Sea, Megara and Athens. Jean Bertheroy wrote in a musical, harmonious language, mingling the ardor of passion with a strong impulse toward the ideal.
She worked for Le Figaro and the Revue des deux Mondes, was the first secretary of the Prix Femina jury in 1904, and was a member of the Société des gens de lettres. Bertheroy campaigned for the improvement of the status of women.
Death and legacy
Jean Bertheroy died on January 24, 1927, in Le Cannet, a town where she owned a villa.Her memory lives on in Montmorency, Val-d'Oise, where she had an Italian-style house built in 1891, at 5 Rue de l'Hermitage, in the immediate vicinity of the Hermitage of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a writer she admired and wanted to get closer to. This house is sometimes called Hôtel Bertheroy, sometimes Maison Jean Bertheroy.
Awards and honours
- Prizes of the Académie Française
- 1911: Knight, Legion of Honour
Selected works
Vibrations, poems Marie Madeleine, poem Femmes antiques : la légende, l'histoire, la Bible, poems Cléopâtre, historical novel Aristophane et Molière, 1 act in verse, Paris, Comédie-Française, 15 January 1897.Ximénès, historical novel Le Mime Bathylle, historical novel Le Roman d'une âme, novel Le Double Joug, novel Sur la pente, novel Les Trois Filles de Pieter Waldorp Un vrai ami, comedy in 1 act, co-written with Brandimbourg, Paris, performed at the Grand-Guignol, 25 November 1897Cocu, ou la femme de M. Duveau, vaudeville in 1 act, co-written with Habrekon and De Pawlowsky, performed at Divan japonais, 16 September 1899La Danseuse de Pompéi ; reissued in 1905 Le Journal de Marguerite Plantin Éloge de André Chénier, memoir Lucie Guérin, marquise de Ponts, novel Hérille, novel Le Rachat Les Vierges de Syracuse Le Mirage, novel Le Jardin des Tolosati Les Dieux familiers, new novel La Beauté d'Alcias, nouveau roman Les Délices de Mantoue, novel Sybaris Geneviève de Paris, historical novel L'Ascension du bonheur, novel Le Colosse de Rhodes Conflit d'âmes, roman Les Deux Puissances, novel Gilles le Ménétrier La Passion d'Héloïse et Abélard La Vie du cœur, short stories Le Frisson sacré, novel Les Chanteurs florentins, suivis de : l'Enfant Septentrion Le Double Amour Aspasie et Phryné, illustrated by Les Tablettes d'Erinna d'Agrigente, novel La Couronne d'épines, novel Le Tourment d'aimer, novel Entre la conscience et le cœur Le Chemin de l'amour, novel Vers la gloire Les Voix du Forum Les Pavots mystiques, novel Amour, où est ta victoire ? novel L'Ange au sourire Roseline et l'amour La Ville des expiations Les Brebis de Mme Deshoulières Dans la barque d'Isis, novel- ''La Vie sublime de Galileo-Galilei''