The Resume

(January 28, 1873-August 3, 1954)
Birth name is Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette
Wrote ‘Claudine at School (1900),' ‘Claudine in Paris (1901),' ‘Claudine Married (1902),' ‘Claudine and Annie (1903),' ‘The Vagabond (1910),' ‘Music Hall Sidelights (1913),' ‘Cheri (1920),' ‘My Mother's House (1922),' ‘The Last of Cheri (1926),' ‘Sido (1929),' ‘The Pure and the Impure (1932),' ‘The Cat (1933)' and ‘Gigi (1945)'

Why she might be annoying:

Her doting mother openly preferred her to her other children.
She disliked suffragettes and believed they needed ‘the whip and the harem.'
When she was in her forties, she told her teenaged stepson it was time he became a man and seduced him.
She may have collaborated with the Vichy regime during World War Two.
Her daughter claimed that she was a cold, negligent mother.

Why she might not be annoying:

She was one of the first modern writers to address sexuality from a woman's perspective.
Her abusive first husband Henri Gauthier-Villars forced her to write her first book (for which he stole all the credit) by locking her in her room.
Her ‘Claudine' books were bestsellers and started a nationwide fad.
After leaving Gauthier-Villars, she supported herself as a risqué music hall dancer.
She was the first woman admitted to the Academie Goncourt.
Her novel ‘Gigi' was made into a successful Broadway play starring Audrey Hepburn and an Oscar winning musical directed by Vincente Minnelli.

Credit: Georgina

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• About.com Top 100 Women of History [2009] (Ranked: 80)
• Bisexuals
• Bulldog Owners
• Coachella [Performers] (Ranked: 2006)
• Eye Make-up Fiends
• Georgina/Devil Doll's Profiles [Series 1]
• I am a Citizen of France
• I Died in 1954 (Ranked: 81)
• I Got a Pet Cat or Twenty
• I Love Younger Men [Tad Poling]
• I Write Bildungsroman
• I'm Buried in the Pere Lachaise in Paris
• Known By a Single Name
• Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century [1999] (Ranked: 59)
• Look at Me and My Pet
• NPR's 100 Best Literary Characters of the 20th Century [Authors - 2002] (Ranked: 73)
• Profiles 17251-17500 (Ranked: 17458)
• UK Guardian's Helena Frith Powell's Top 10 Sexy French Books (Ranked: 1)

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 17 Votes: 58.82% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 13 Votes: 69.23% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 23 Votes: 56.52% Annoying
In 2010, Out of 60 Votes: 68.33% Annoying
In 2009, Out of 53 Votes: 67.92% Annoying
In 2008, Out of 29 Votes: 58.62% Annoying
In 2007, Out of 71 Votes: 70.42% Annoying
In 2006, Out of 90 Votes: 60.0% Annoying