Nicolette Hennique

French poet (1882–1956)

Nicolette Hennique-Valentin
Engraved Portrait published in the Album Mariani, volume XI, 1908.
Born	Marquerite Clarisse Nicolette Hennique^[1] 17 April 1882 Paris, France
Died	11 April 1956 (aged 73)^[1] Rue Hamelin, Paris, France
Nationality	French
Occupation	Poet

Marquerite Clarisse Nicolette Hennique-Valentin (17 April 1882 – 11 April 1956) was a French symbolist poet.

Life

Nicolette Hennique was daughter of the novelist Léon Hennique and Nicolette-Louise Dupont-Châtelain.^[2] She was born in Paris on 17 April 1882. She married Pierre Paul Henri Valentin.^[1] She inherited the house where Nicolas de Condorcet was born, now the Condorcet Museum.^[3] She was a member of the Society for propagation of art books.^[4]

Hennique was one of a number of pre-war women poets in France who followed and emulated the symbolism of Stéphane Mallarmé, and who have now been largely forgotten.^[5] The highly original work of Hennique and women such as Lucie Delarue-Mardrus, Anna de Noailles, Renée Vivien, Gérard d'Houville and Marie Dauguet astonished the critics, who saw it as a sign of a moral and social revolution as well as a literary one.^[6] She contributed to several journals: L'ermitage,^[7]^[8] L'hémicycle, La revue blanche, La revue and Le gaulois.

In 1955 Hennique published a moving book of memories of her father.^[9] This biography, written towards the end of her life, was anecdotal and at times hagiographical. However, it is the most detailed study available, and informative about his links with the Théâtre Libre and the Académie Goncourt, and with contemporary naturalist writers.^[10]

Reception

A review of Des rêves et des choses (1900) in L'He-micycle (15 April 1900) praised its abundant vigour, melancholy and beauty but said what was really new was its profile of a poet with wide and daring dreams, whose beautiful deep eyes caress the contour of things.^[11]
Henri Duvernois classifies her among the Parnassians.^[12]
Nicolette Hennique, almost a child again, has been able to force the attention of scholars with Dreams and Things, Heroes and Gods. (Le Gaulois (Paris, 1968)
"The strange phenomenon! to sing Greek, to think Greek, to see Greek, to dream Greek, as well as the great Sappho of Mitylene and to call herself floristically Nicolette!" Émile Bergerat

Publications

Publications by Hennique include:^[13]

Nicolette Hennique (1900), Des rêves et des choses, Paris: éditions de la "Revue blanche", p. 140
Nicolette Hennique (1903), Les douze labeurs héroïques, Illustrated by Gaston Bussière, preface by Julia Daudet, Paris: André Ferroud, p. 47
Nicolette Hennique (1904), Des héros et des dieux, Paris: E. Fasquelle, p. 257
Nicolette Hennique (1909), Du vent sur la plaine, Paris: E. Fasquelle, p. 215
Nicolette Hennique (1912), Invocation (Songs and piano), Music by Joseph Landeroin, Paris: Office musical, p. 8
Nicolette Hennique (1926), Jean-Baptiste Oudry 1686-1755, Paris: Nilsson, p. 135

Other publications were:

Nicolette Hennique (September 1898), "Prismes", La revue blanche: 453ff
Nicolette Hennique (January 1902), "Vulcanales", La revue blanche: 499ff
Nicolette Hennique (January 1903), "Poèmes", La revue blanche: 421ff
Nicolette Hennique (1903), "Les douze labeurs héroïques", La Revue blanche (Poems): 450ff
Nicolette Hennique (1932), "Le Rêve de Bacchis etc.", L'Illustration
Nicolette Hennique (1959), Mon père, Léon Hennique, Preface by Gabriel Reuillard, éditions du Dauphin

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Death Certificate, City of Paris archives^{[permanent dead link]}, Civil Acts, Act 721, Side 16D 198
^ Mirbeau, Michel & Nivet 2005, p. 349 fn 5.
^ Badinter & Badinter 2014, Note 12.
^ Goya & Lafond 1907, p. 99.
^ Johnson 2017, PT525.
^ Décaudin 1981, p. 155.
^ Hennique 1899.
^ Hennique 1902.
^ Mirbeau, Michel & Nivet 2005, p. 826 fn 2.
^ Baguley 1994, p. 1026.
^ P.-Q. 1993, p. 123.
^ Duvernois 1904, p. 3.
^ Nicolette Hennique (1886-19..) – BnF.

Sources

Badinter, Élisabeth; Badinter, Robert (2014), Condorcet Un intellectuel en politique (1743-1794) (in French)
Baguley, David (1994), The Nineteenth Century in Two Parts, Syracuse University Press, ISBN 978-0-8156-2566-7, retrieved 2018-08-12
Décaudin, Michel (1981), La crise des valeurs symbolistes: vingt ans de poésie française, 1895-1914 (in French), Slatkine, ISBN 978-2-05-100293-6, retrieved 2018-08-12
Duvernois, Henri (3 April 1904), Girardin, Émile de; Laguerre, Georges (eds.), "Les Livres: Des héros et des dieux", La Presse, retrieved 2018-08-12
Goya, Francisco; Lafond, Paul (1907), Nouveau caprices de Goya; suite de trente-huit dessins inédits, Paris: Société de propagation des livres d'art
Hennique, Nicolette (January 1899), "Les yeux", L'Ermitage (in French), Paris
Hennique, Nicolette (July 1902), "L'âme des pauvres", L'Ermitage (in French), Paris
Johnson, Graham (2017-07-05), Gabriel Faur?The Songs and their Poets, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 978-1-351-56610-0, retrieved 2018-08-12
Mirbeau, Octave; Michel, Pierre; Nivet, Jean-Francois (2005), Correspondance Generale (in French), L'Age d'Homme, GGKEY:N8R37X7HPGW, retrieved 2018-08-12
Nicolette Hennique (1886-19..) (in French), BnF: Bibliotheque nationale de France, retrieved 2018-08-12
P.-Q. (1993), "Hennique (Nicolette)", in Catulle Mendès (ed.), Le mouvement poétique français de 1867 à 1900 (in French), Slatkine, ISBN 978-2-05-101274-4, retrieved 2018-08-12