Anne-Marie Thérèse Fontaine (born 1938), known by her pen name Anne Cheynet, is a French author in Réunion. Her 1977 work Les Muselés [fr] is considered a significant contribution to Réunionnais literature, as the first novel to be formally labeled as "Réunionnais."
Biography
Anne-Marie Thérèse Fontaine was born in Saint-Denis, Réunion, in 1938, and spent her childhood in the city's Saint-François neighborhood. She traveled to Aix-en-Provence to study in 1956, remaining abroad until 1963.
Back on the island, she worked as a secondary school teacher before getting involved in politics. She later returned to the classroom as a preschool teacher.
She published her first book, the poetry collection Matanans et Langoutis, in 1972, followed by her best-known work, the novel Les Muselés, which is considered the first work billed as a "Réunionnais novel." The novel, which has an activist slant, focuses on the lives of the poor in Réunion. Cheynet, who was from a poor white family, drew on her experiences of discrimination during the island's colonial era.
Anne Cheynet has since published several other books, including the poetry collection Ter tout' kouler and the short story collection Rivages maouls. In 2022, she released a bilingual story collection illustrated by Claire Ruiz, La clé dans zot poche: Histoires semées depuis le Grand Sentier.
Between 2001 and 2004, she produced three CDs of oral storytelling.
She writes in both French and Creole.
Selected works
- Matanans et Langoutis (poetry), 1972
- Les Muselés (novel), L'Harmattan, 1977
- Ter tout' kouler : Poème pour la terre multicolore (poetry), vol. 1, Ravine des Sables, ADMV, 1992
- Rivages maouls : histoires d'Annabelle (autobiographical), vol. 1, Océan, 1994
- La clé dans zot poche: Histoires semées depuis le Grand Sentier (stories), Éditions Poisson Rouge, 2022
References
- ^ Nicole, Rose-May. (1996). Noirs, cafres et créoles : études de la représentation du non blanc réunionnais : documents et littératures réunionnaises 1710-1980. Paris: L'Harmattan. ISBN 2-7384-4615-9. OCLC 36876288.
- ^ "Anne Cheynet, 5 Questions pour Île en île". Île en île (in French). 2010-12-09. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
- ^ "Anne Cheynet". Île en île (in French). 2004-08-04. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
- "Cheynet, Anne". The New Oxford companion to literature in French. France, Peter, 1935-. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1995. ISBN 978-0-19-173500-4. OCLC 223174819.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - "La clé dans zot poche - Histoires semées depuis le Grand Sentier". La Réunion des Livres (in French). Retrieved 2024-04-23.
External links
- Interview with Anne Cheynet (in French)