Started by Colette at the age of seventy-five, this tasty little book will be her last. The writer hardly leaves her apartment at the Palais-Royal and her “raft of work”, namely her bed. In a diary style, here she is observing from her window, recounting a trip to Switzerland or the receipt of a letter sent by a “valiant” teacher who explains her concerns about teaching children “to know, that is- that is, to love.” We will enjoy hearing her write that “it is the ordinary” that “pricks” and “invigorates” her. Or that she rocks under her anchor, “under the blue lantern which is nothing other than a strong commercial lamp at the end of its long extendable X, blue and skirted with blue paper”.
Colette, “The blue lantern”, Rivages pocket, 190 pages, €7.
