Diane Ducret is a Franco-Belgian writer. She has published both non-fiction historical books and novels. Much of her writing concerns the historical experiences of women, including studies of women who were closely associated with notorious dictators or gangsters. She has also written comedic fiction, and worked as a writer and host for historical television series.
Diane Ducret | |
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 Diane Ducret at the Salon du livre de Paris in March 2014 | |
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Early life and education
editDucret was born in Anderlecht,[1] but grew up in The Basque Country.[2]
Ducret studied at the Lycée Molière in Paris (Fr), and then moved to Rome to continue her studies.[3] She then completed a master's degree in philosophy at the Paris-Sorbonne University, with a thesis called La modernité scientifique et la pensée du transcendantal chez Husserl (The scientific modernity and transcendental thought of Husserl).[4] She then obtained a Master of Advanced Studies in philosophy, with the thesis La mort comme critique de la totalité : lecture de L'Étoile de la Rédemption de Franz Rosenzweig (Death as a critique of totality: reading L'Etoile de la Rédemption by Franz Rosenzweig).[4]
Writing
editDucret was a writer for the television series Des racines et des ailes on France 3.[5] She also hosted the program Le Forum de l'Histoire on the television channel Histoire TV.[5]
In 2011, Ducret published her first book, Femmes de Dictateur, a study of the wives and mistresses of 20th century dictators.[6] It was translated into numerous languages and became a best seller.[2]
In 2013, Ducret published her debut novel, Corpus Equi. It won the first place prize for a novel at the La Forêt des Livres festival (the Forest of Books festival).[7] It was also selected as a favourite on the radio literary criticism show Le Masque et la Plume.[8]
Ducret returned to nonfiction writing with the 2015 work La Chair Interdite (The forbidden flesh). The book is an examination of women's circumstances throughout history, studying the methods and effects of misogyny beginning in about 250 BCE.[9] The book ranges from interpersonal relationships, such as the abuses committed by powerful men against women in their personal lives, to violence against women in the form of endemic medical abuse.[9] In 2015, she again published a novel, called L'homme Idéal Existe, il est Québécois (The ideal man exists, he is Québécois), which is a romantic comedy.[10]
In 2016, Ducret published Lady Scarface, about women who were involved in gangster activity, particularly the women who were companions of notorious American gangsters of the 1930s.[11] This work was published in a different format in 2017 as Les Marraines du Crime (The Godmothers of Crime).[12] Also in 2017, Ducret published Les Indésirables (The Undesirables), which is a novel about the mass arrest of refugees by the government of Paul Reynaud in May 1940, and in particular the deportation of single foreign women from the Vélodrome d'Hiver to the Gurs internment camp.[12]
References
edit- ^ Vantroyen, Jean-Claude (23 February 2011). "Les dictateurs, leurs fans, leurs femmes". Le Soir (in French). Retrieved 1 November 2020.
- ^ a b "Elle a osé Mao, Hitler côté cœur". Sud Ouest (in French). 15 March 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
- ^ "Auteur du best seller Femmes de dictateur Diane Ducret" (in French). Speakers Academy. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
- ^ a b "Rencontre avec Diane Ducret". University of Chicago Center in Paris. 10 April 2018. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
- ^ a b Fulda, Anne (22 June 2018). "Diane Ducret, la meilleure façon de marcher". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 1 November 2020.
- ^ Payot, Marianne (10 August 2014). "Les écrivains français champions à l'export". L'Express (in French). Retrieved 1 November 2020.
- ^ "Près de 200 auteurs attendus en Touraine à la Forêt des livres". L'Obs (in French). 25 August 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
- ^ Garcin, Jérôme (29 September 2013). "Cinq livres à la loupe". France Inter. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
- ^ a b Payette, Lise (1 May 2015). "La chair interdite". Le Devoir (in French). Retrieved 1 November 2020.
- ^ Morain, Odile (7 December 2015). ""L'homme idéal existe, il est Québécois" : Diane Ducret romancière et basque jusqu'au bout des ongles". France info (in French). Retrieved 1 November 2020.
- ^ Rocher, Bertrand (30 April 2016). "Livre : Lady Scarface, le livre qui s'intéresse aux femmes des plus célèbres gangsters". Grazia (in French). Retrieved 1 November 2020.
- ^ a b Eschapasse, Baudouin (13 April 2017). "L'autre rafle du Vél' d'Hiv..." Le Point (in French). Retrieved 1 November 2020.