Marie Lera

Marie Lera (née, Héliard; pen names, Jean D'Anin and Marc Hélys; 2 June 1864 – 9 October 1958) was a French journalist, novelist, and translator. She is best known for her book, Le secret des "Désenchantées".[1] Lera died in 1958.

Marie Lera
BornHortense Marie Héliard
2 June 1864
Saint-Nazaire, France
Died9 October 1958
Bron, France
Pen name
  • Jean D'Anin
  • Marc Hélys
Occupation
  • journalist
  • novelist
  • translator
LanguageFrench
NationalityFrench
Notable worksLe secret des "Désenchantées"
SpouseCarlos Americo Léra

Biography

Hortense Marie Héliard[2] was born on 2 June 1864, in Saint-Nazaire.[3] From childhood, she was taught English and Italian and, thanks to her nanny, Swedish too.[4]

She started her career in journalism by writing a report on Scandinavia, adopting the pen names "Jean D'Anin" and "Marc Hélys" when publishing her works.

During her two stays in Constantinople, Lera created relationships and spent time with two women, which opened doors for her and helped her understand the ideological debates in regard to Ottoman women. Lera wrote a book, Le jardin fermé, which she presented as a testimony on the condition of women and the events that marked her time in Constantinople,[5] but which in reality was a summary of hearsay punctuated with romantic inventions.[6] Lera was best known for her book, Le secret des "Désenchantées", published under the pseudonym of "Marc Hélys", which described how the literary success of Pierre Loti's Les désenchantées resulted from a deception of which she was the one of the authors during her second stay in Constantinople in 1904.

Lera became interested in feminism while in several foreign countries. In 1906, she published À travers le féminisme en Suède[7] (Paris, Plon-Nourrit). She was also a translator (from Italian, English, Swedish, and Polish), using the pseudonym "Jean d'Anin".

Her husband was the Mexican diplomat Carlos Americo Lera.[8] Marie Lera died on 9 October 1958, in Bron.[3]

Selected works

As "Marie Lera"
  • Les Petits Boërs : épisode de la guerre du Transvaal en 1900, 1900

As "Jean d'Anin"
  • Laquelle ? - Collection Stella, no. 107, 1903

As "Marc Hélys"
  • À travers le féminisme suédois, 1906
  • Le Jardin fermé, scènes de la vie féminine en Turquie, 1908
  • Cantinière de la Croix-Rouge 1914-1916, 1917
  • L'Envers d'un roman  : Le secret des "Désenchantées" révélé par celle qui fut Djénan, 1923

Translations as "Marc Hélys"
  • Aimé pour lui-même - Collection Stella, no. 22 (French translation of the novel Brewster's Millions, by George Barr McCutcheon) 1902
  • Le Vieux Manoir (French translation of a Swedish short story by Selma Lagerlöf)
  • Dans le désert (French translation of the Italian novel Sino al confine, by Grazia Deledda), Paris, Hachette, 1912
  • Une héroïne de la Renaissance italienne, Caterina Sforza, 1463-1509 (partial French translation of Caterina Sforza, 3 volume edition by the Italian historian, Pier Desiderio Pasolini)
  • Des roseaux sous le vent(French translation of the Italian novel Canne al vento, by Grazia Deledda), Paris, Grasset, 1919
  • Betty et ses amoureux (French translation of the novel The Two Vanrevels by Booth Tarkington), Paris, Hachette, 1936

References
  1. Lera, Marie (1924). Le secret des "désenchantées" (in French). Perrin. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  2. Holmes, Diana; Tarr, Carrie (1 January 2006). A Belle Epoque?: Women and Feminism in French Society and Culture 1890-1914. Berghahn Books. p. 293. ISBN 978-0-85745-701-1. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  3. Archives de la Loire Atlantique, commune de Saint-Nazaire, acte de naissance no 147, année 1864 (avec mention marginale de décès) (page 17/48)
  4. Odoevsky Maslov, Loup. "Marc Hélys femme de lettres nazairienne", Histoire et Patrimoine n°97, March 2020, p. 63
  5. Dussert, Éric (2018). Cachées par la forêt: 138 femmes de lettres oubliées (in French). La Table ronde. ISBN 978-2-7103-7714-6. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  6. Odoevsky Maslov, Loup, 2020, p. 70
  7. Fournier, Vincent (1989). L'utopie ambiguë: la Suède et la Norvège chez les voyageurs et essayistes français, 1882-1914 (in French). Adosa. ISBN 978-2-86639-102-7. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  8. "Marc Hélys, Marie Lera, Saint-Nazaire, iyi akşamlar - Chroniques de Saint-Nazaire". saint-nazaire.hautetfort.com (in French). 4 April 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
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