Marie Lera


Marie Lera was a French journalist, novelist, and translator. She is best known for her book, Le secret des "Désenchantées". Lera died in 1958.

Biography

Hortense Marie Héliard was born on June 2nd, 1864 in Saint-Nazaire. From childhood, she was taught English, Italian and, thanks to her nanny, Swedish too.
She started her career in journalism by writing a report on Scandinavia, adopting the pen names "Jean D'Anin" and "Marc Hélys" when publishing her works.
During her two stays in Constantinople, Lera created relationships and spent time with two women, which opened doors for her and helped her understand the ideological debates in regard to Ottoman women. Lera wrote a book, Le jardin fermé, which she presented as a testimony on the condition of women and the events that marked her time in Constantinople, but which in reality was a summary of hearsay punctuated with romantic inventions. Lera was best known for her book, Le secret des "Désenchantées", published under the pseudonym of "Marc Hélys", which described how the literary success of Pierre Loti's Les désenchantées resulted from a deception of which she was one of the authors during her second stay in Constantinople in 1904.
Lera became interested in feminism while in several foreign countries. In 1906, she published À travers le féminisme en Suède. She was also a translator, using the pseudonym "Jean d'Anin".
Her husband was the Mexican diplomat Carlos Americo Lera. Marie Lera died on 9 October 1958, in Bron.

Selected works

As "Marie Lera"

Les Petits Boërs : épisode de la guerre du Transvaal en 1900, 1900

As "Jean d'Anin"

Laquelle ? - Collection Stella, no. 107, 1903

As "Marc Hélys"

  • À travers le féminisme suédois, 1906
  • Le Jardin fermé, scènes de la vie féminine en Turquie, 1908
  • Cantinière de la Croix-Rouge 1914-1916, 1917
  • L'Envers d'un roman : Le secret des "Désenchantées" révélé par celle qui fut Djénan, 1923

Translations as "Marc Hélys"

Aimé pour lui-même - Collection Stella, no. 22 1902