Colette's Journalism: Genre and Rhetoric in the Chroniques

Colette published several series of chroniques in the periodical press, between 1911 and 1928, collecting each series in volumes. They discuss a wide variety of topics. What is a 'chronique', and what is its function both in the periodical, and out of this environment? Anne Freadman studies these chroniques by drawing on Colette's rhetorical practices. Notably, she investigates how the figure of the writer represents herself and her readers. What position does she occupy when considering her topics? Does she provoke her readers or solicit their connivence? What work does she get the chroniques to do?

Anne Freadman's previous publications on Colette include The Livres-Souvenirs of Colette: Genre and the Telling of Time. She is an acknowledged authority on the problematics of genre. She is Honorary Professorial Fellow in French at the University of Melbourne.