Anaïs Ségalas
French playwright, poet and novelist (1811-1893)
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Anaïs Ségalas (24 September 1811, Paris – 31 August 1893, Paris), born Anne Caroline Ménard, was a French playwright, poet, and novelist. She was a member of the Société La Voix des Femmes in Paris in 1848 and of other Parisian feminist organizations.[1]
Anaïs Ségalas | |
|---|---|
| |
| Native name | Anne Caroline Menard |
| Born | 24 September 1811 |
| Died | 31 August 1893 (aged 81) Paris, France |
| Resting place | Pere-Lashaise |
| Genre | Plays, novels, poetry |
| Spouse | Jean Victor Ségalas |
Life
Anne Caroline Ménard was born on 24 September 1811 in the former 6th arrondissement of Paris.[2] She was the only daughter of Charles Ménard and Anne Bonne Portier, a Creole from Santo Domingo.[3] Her father, Charles Ménard, was a vegetarian, an activist for animal welfare, and a misanthrope. When he died, Ménard was 11 years old.[2]
Ménard became acquainted with the neighbor, Jean Victor Ségalas, a lawyer at the Royal Court and got married on 17 January 1827.[4] She took the name Anaïs Ségalas and made her husband promise never to oppose her passion for writing.[2] Ségalas’ first poems were published in 1827. In 1829, La Psyché published her first essays, and in 1831, eight poems Les Algériennes appeared in La Gazette littéraire.[2][5] In the mid-1830s, Ségalas collaborated with a Christian newspaper Le Journal des Femmes.[1]
On 15 December 1838, Ségalas gave birth to her daughter Bertile Claire Gabrielle, to whom she dedicated the volume Enfantines published in 1844.[2] In 1847, Ségalas published a collection of moralizing and didactic poems on various aspects of women's lives titled La Femme.[3] The next year, in 1848, she became a member of Société La Voix des Femmes in Paris and of other Parisian feminist organizations.[1]
In the 1840s, Ségalas started to write theater plays. In 1847, her first play La Loge de l'Opéra, a drama in 3 acts, was performed at the Odeon Theater. In the following years, her plays Le Trembleur, Les Deux Amoureux de la grand’mère and Les Absents ont raison were staged in Paris theaters.[2]
In 1861, she published a collection of poetry, Idéal et Réalités.[6]
Aged 81, Ségalas wrote her last comedy in 1 act Deux passions which had a world success.
Anaïs Ségalas died on 31 August 1893 in Paris.[2] In 1917, the French Academy created the Anaïs Ségalas Prize for Literature and Philosophy, intended to reward the work of talented women.[7] The last prize was awarded in 1989.
Works
- Les Algériennes, poésies, 1831
- Les Oiseaux de passage, poésies, 1837
- Enfantines, poésies à ma fille, 1844
- Poésies, 1844
- La Femme, poésies, 1847
- Contes du nouveau Palais de Cristal, 1855
- Nos bons Parisiens, poésies, 1864
- La Semaine de la marquise, 1865
- Les Mystères de la maison, 1865
- La Dette du cœur, poésies, 1869
- La Vie de feu, 1875
- Les Mariages dangereux, 1878
- Les Rieurs de Paris, 1880
- Les Romans du wagon. Le Duel des femmes. Le Bois de la Soufrière. Un roman de famille. Le Figurant, 1884
- Le Livre des vacances. L'Oncle d'Amérique et le neveu de France. Zozo, Polyte et Marmichet. Une rencontre sur la neige, 1885
- Récits des Antilles. Le Bois de la Soufrière, 1885
- Les Deux Fils, 1886
- Poésies pour tous, 1886
- Le Compagnon invisible, 1888
Theater plays
- La Loge de l’Opér, 1847
- Le Trembleur, 1849
- Les Deux Amoureux de la grand’mère, 1850
- Les Absents ont raison, 1852
- Les Inconvénients de la sympathie, 1854
- Deux passions, 1893