3 Flaubert, Correspondance, Paris, Gallimard, 1973, «La Pléiade», vol.Colet’s misery was due in no small part to her lover’s avowed attraction to other women, mainly prostitutes. Yet, in spite of her political courage and creative accomplishments, she is remembered primarily as Flaubert’s long-suffering mistress and confidante from 1846 to 1848 and again from 1851 to 1854 2. At great risk to herself, she also supported Victor Hugo’s work in exile. She actively participated in the movement for women’s emancipation and invested energy and funds into Flora Tristan’s socialist journal L’Union ouvrière. Colet, a dedicated writer recognized by the Académie française, organized an influential salon with the help of Victor Cousin that was frequented by literati, political progressives, and writers such as Vigny, Desbordes-Valmore, Gautier, and Dumas. Flaubert had been introduced to Colet seven years prior in the atelier of the renowned sculptor James Pradier 1. Du Plessix Gray, R (.)ġIn a letter he sent to Louise Colet on June 1, 1853, Gustave Flaubert stated most emphatically, brutally even perhaps, the importance he granted to prostitution in both his private life and his art.
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