Marguerite Yourcenar

Marguerite Yourcenar (a pen name and an anagram of her surname, her real name was Marguerite Ghislaine Cleenewerck de Crayencour) was born in Brussels on June 8, 1903. Her Belgian mother died ten days after giving birth. Her father, a French officer, raised her in Lille, where the family ancestral castle was located, with romantic stories and travels. She was educated at home with an emphasis on foreign languages, both living and dead, such as Ancient Greek and Latin. Her father passed away in 1929, the same year her first novel, "Alexis," was published. In 1935, she traveled to the Black Sea with Andreas Embirikos. During this time, she wrote the lyrical "Fires" (1936) and "Oriental Tales" (1939). She is also known for her collaboration with K. Th. Dimaras in 1939, which was sparked by the poetry of Cavafy, whom she was the first to introduce to France through her translations and related essay. In 1939, she settled in the United States. In 1947, she obtained American citizenship, which caused her several issues in France. Three years later, she bought a house on a small island in the state of Maine, Mount Desert Island. For a large part of her life, Yourcenar lived with her partner, translator, and secretary Grace Frick. In 1951, she published "Memoirs of Hadrian," which received immense commercial and critical acclaim after years of research in libraries and visits to many of the places where the story unfolds. Yourcenar's work is intertwined with Greek, humanistic perspectives. In 1968, "The Abyss" ("L'Oeuvre au noir") unanimously won the Femina Prize. Finally, "The Labyrinth of the World I: Pious Memories" (1974), "The Labyrinth of the World II: Archives of the North" (1977), and "The Labyrinth of the World III: What? Eternity" (1988) form a triptych in which the author recalls the memories of her family and her own childhood. In 1980, the French Academy decided to break a 345-year tradition and accept a woman among the forty "immortals." Other significant books by her include: "The Coin of Dreams" (1934), "Coup de Grâce" (1939), "Who Has Not a Minotaur?" (1963), "The Crown and the Lyre" (anthology, 1979), "Mishima: A Vision of the Void" (1981), "Like the Water That Flows" (1982), "The Chisel of Time" (1982). Yourcenar died on Mount Desert Island, USA, on December 17, 1987, at the age of 84, from a stroke.