Cheri and The Last of Cheri

Chéri, together with The Last of Chéri, is a classic story of a love affair between a very young man and a charming older woman. In describing the relationship between Fred Peloux, the beautiful gigolo known as Chéri, and the courtesan Léa de Lonval, Colette tenderly depicts the devotion that stems from desire and provides an honest account of the most human preoccupations of youth and middle age. With compassionate insight she paints a full-length double portrait, using an impressionistic style all her own. In Chéri, Colette achieved a peak in her earthy, sensuous, and utterly individual art.

Praise

"The paradoxes of great literature are those of human nature, and Colette is nothing if not human . . . Accessible and elusive; greedy and austere; courageous and timid; subversive and complacent; scorchingly honest and sublimely mendacious; an inspired consoler and an existential pessimist—these are the qualities of the artist and the woman. It is time to rediscover them."—Judith Thurman, from the Introduction

"Chéri is her masterpiece."—Michael Straight, The New Republic

"Dramatic and moving . . . [Chéri] endears itself to the reader partly because of its subject, but more because of the manner of its telling."—The New York Times

About the Author(s)

Colette

Born in 1873 in France, Colette was the author of many acclaimed novels noted for their intimate style.Other Colette titles from FSG include The Complete Claudine, Gigi, Julie de Carneilhan, and Chance Acquaintances, Vagabond, and The Complete Stories of Colette. She died in 1954.

Guides

Reading Group Guide

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