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Sagan, Françoise (pseud. of Françoise Quoirez) (1935-2004). French writer, who was first thrown into the public eye at the age of 18 when she published her best-selling novel, Bonjour tristesse (1953). Studiedly subverting contemporary notions of morality, the novel describes adolescent sexuality in a casual yet poignant tone. The dominant mood of sadness and detachment is repeated in a series of more than a dozen best-selling romantic novels, such as Dans un mois, dans un an (1957) and Aimez-vous Brahms? (1959). Often the limitations of the social roles open to women are gently underlined: thus, Lucie of La Chamade (1965) is unable to engage in any meaningful life outside the cocoon which her wealthy lover provides. Sagan's combination of jet-setting lifestyle with vociferous support for left-wing causes has made her a media phenomenon. In 1984 she published an autobiographical text, Avec mon meilleur souvenir, in which she presents her writing as a revenge against life's constraints.

[Elizabeth Fallaize]

(fräNswäz' sägäN') , pseudonym of Françoise Quoirez (kwärĕz') , 1935–2004, French novelist, b. Françoise Quoirez. She became famous with her precocious first book, Bonjour tristesse (1954, tr. 1955), a bittersweetly amoral portrayal of a sophisticated, disillusioned French society. Her other novels include Un Certain Sourire (tr. 1956), Aimez-vous Brahms? (1959, tr. 1960), and Un Sang d'aquarelle (1987, tr. Painting in Blood, 1988).

Bibliography

See study by J. Miller (1988).

Quotes:

"It seems to me that there are two kinds of trickery: the fronts people assume before one another's eyes, and the front a writer puts on the face of reality."

"Jazz music is an intensified feeling of nonchalance."

"To jealousy, nothing is more frightful than laughter."

"Of course the illusion of art is to make one believe that great literature is very close to life, but exactly the opposite is true. Life is amorphous, literature is formal."

"Every little girl knows about love. It is only her capacity to suffer because of it that increases."

"Writing is a question of finding a certain rhythm. I compare it to the rhythms of jazz. Much of the time life is a sort of rhythmic progression of three characters. If one tells oneself that life is like that, one feels it less arbitrary."

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