Nicolette Hennique

• Name — Nicolette Hennique-Valentin • Birth Name — Marquerite Clarisse Nicolette Hennique • Born — 17 April 1882 • Birthplace — Paris, France • Died — 11 April 1956 (aged 73) • Place of death — Rue Hamelin, Paris, France • Occupation — Poet

Nicolette Hennique was daughter of the novelist Léon Hennique and Nicolette-Louise Dupont-Châtelain. She was born in Paris on 17 April 1882. She married Pierre Paul Henri Valentin. She inherited the house where Nicolas de Condorcet was born, now the Condorcet Museum. She was a member of the Society for propagation of art books. Hennique was one of a number of pre-war women poets in France who followed and emulated the symbolism of Stéphane Mallarmé, and who have now been largely forgotten. The highly original work of Hennique and women such as Lucie Delarue-Mardrus, Anna de Noailles, Renée Vivien, Gérard d'Houville and Marie Dauguet astonished the critics, who saw it as a sign of a moral and social revolution as well as a literary one. She contributed to several journals: L'ermitage, L'hémicycle, La revue blanche, La revue and Le gaulois. In 1955 Hennique published a moving book of memories of her father. This biography, written towards the end of her life, was anecdotal and at times hagiographical. However, it is the most detailed study available, and informative about his links with the Théâtre Libre and the Académie Goncourt, and with contemporary naturalist writers.