Jane de La Vaudère (1857–1908)

Jane de La Vaudère was the pen name of Jeanne Scrive, born in Paris, a daughter of the famous French military surgeon Gaspard-Léonard Scrive and his wife Barbara Elizabeth Weigel. Orphaned at a young age, she was raised in the convent of Notre-Dame de Sion, where the mother superior was her cousin. In 1875, at age 18, she married Camille Gaston Crapez, with whom she had a son. He inherited the Château de la Vaudère in the Sarthe, from which Jane borrowed her nom de plume. However, they lived in Paris, where Jane hosted a salon. She became one of the most prolific writers of the fin de siècle/Belle Époque period, and a participant in the Decadent and Naturalist movements. She produced some 40 works, including more than 30 novels and collections of short stories. These included Les androgynes (1903), Les demi-sexes (1897), and Les Sataniques (1897). She also wrote historical romances and exotic novels such a.s Les courtisanes de Brahma, La gueisha amoureuse, and La porte de félicité. She also wrote four collections of poetry and 10 plays, for which she collaborated with the Théâtre du Grand Guignol. Although highly praised by the public as well as by literary critics during her lifetime, Jane's work is now largely forgotten.