- Albertine Sarrazin
Albertine Sarrazin (
September 17 ,1937 ,Algiers —July 10 ,1967 ,Montpellier ,France ) was a French author most famous for her semi-autobiographical novel "L'Astragale ". She was born in Algiers and adopted by a family that moved her toAix-en-Provence . She was abused by a family member and constantly had conflicts with them, leading to an intense distaste forauthority that stayed with her the rest of her life.Although she was intelligent and did well in her studies, her family sent her to a
reformatory school inMarseilles . She escaped toParis where she satisfied her thirst forliterature andart while dabbling inprostitution . In 1953, a bungled hold-up had her sent toFresnes Prison . Upon escaping (and breaking herankle in the process) she metJulien Sarrazin , and the two were soon married. The two continued to live lives ofcrime , spending time in and out of jail and keeping contact through letters.In prison, Sarrazin wrote her first novels, "L'Astragale" and "
La Cavale ", which were published after her release in 1964. (The astragale of the title is the French word for thetalus bone , which both she and the main character of her novel broke on their escapes from jail.) Their success allowed the married couple to settle in Montpellier where she wrote her third story, "La Traversière ". The novel also performed well, but Sarrazin died shortly afterwards from complications during akidney surgery.Bibliography
*La Cavale, 1965
*L'Astragale, 1965
*La Traversière, 1966
*Poèmes , 1969
*Lettres à Julien , 1971
*Lettres de la Vie Littéraire , 1965-1967
*Les Biftons de prison , 1977
*Journal de Fresne External links
* [http://prehistvalflaunes.ifrance.com/prehistvalflaunes/sarra/asbio.html A biography of Albertine Sarrazin (in French)] .
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