renee

Pauline Tarn/Renée Vivien

"More than any other woman, she was the priestess of death, and death was her last masterpiece... This was not a suicide: those who love life kill themselves, those who love death let themselves die."

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Relationship to Natalie: Intense, on-and-off relationship, largely one-sided obsession on Natalie's part to win her back for almost a decade, before her untimely passing in 1909.

Partners:
Hélène van Zuylen

Rivals:
Liane de Pougy
Lucie Delarue-Mardrus

Written by Renée:

About Natalie

• Études et Préludes (1901) – dedicated to N...

  • À La Femme Aimée
  • Sonnet
  • Nocturnes
  • Lucidité
  • Cri
  • Ondine

• Cendres et Poussières (1902)

  • Désir
  • Ressemblance inquiétante

• Évocations (1903)

  • Atthis

• La Vénus des Aveugles (1904)

  • À la perverse Ophélie
  • Telle que Viviane

• A Woman Appeared to Me (1904/1905) – roman à clef. The content changed heavily between the two editions, as a result of the short reconciliation between Renée and Natalie which occurred in 1905, when Renée's relationship with Hélène also became unstable. Natalie as "Valley/Lorely" (differed between editions), Hélène de Zuylen and Eva Palmer partly inspired "Eva", Lucie Delarue-Mardrus appears in both editions, the first as the wife of Petrus the orientalist (based on her husband J.C.), the second as yet another scored lover of Lorely (Natalie)'s.

• À l'Heure des mains jointes (1906)

  • En débarquant à Mytilène
  • Paroles à l'amie

About/with Hélène van Zuylen

• Vers l'Amour (1903)

• L'Être Double (1904)

• Netsuké (1904)

• Sillages (1908) – dedicated to H.-L.-C.-B.

  • Amata - Identified as having been written about Hélène's infidelity, after Natalie succeeded in sabotaging their relationship by boasting about how Hélène attempted to seduce her.

Written about Renée:

Natalie

• Je me souviens (1910)
• Adventures of the Mind (1929) – Adventures, Renée Vivien
• Souvenirs Indiscrets (1960)

Others

• The Angels and the Perverts (Lucie) – roman à clef: portrays Natalie pursuing Renée in spite of her being with Hélène
• My Blue Notebooks (Liane)
  • October 5, 1919
• Oscaria (Dolly)
• Les Marronniers en fleurs (Élisabeth)
• No Pleasant Memories (Romaine Brooks)

• Catherine Boyd, La 'Femme nouvelle' de Renée Vivien: une étude thématique de La dame à la louve
• Gayle Rubin, introduction to A Woman Appeared to Me, English translation (1982)

#lovers