Writing for the Papers: Colette’s Chroniques and the Question of Genre

Abstract

Apart from her familiar fiction and memory writing, Colette wrote hundreds of short pieces for the periodical press. Some of these are theatre and music criticism; many are chroniques. This article selects several of these in which Colette reflects on this very fluid genre. Firstly, she receives advice from a child about writing without an assigned topic. This is a parodic poetics. Secondly, she tells us where she finds her topics: it is in the streets, not in the “factory” that makes the paper. Yet, in an evident paradox, her vehicle for this lesson is a story about crackpots who do not respect this boundary. Thirdly, in another paradox, she wanders in the streets, writing while taking time off from writing. This last chronique foreshadows the work of Ross Chambers on Loiterature.