Benoîte Groult (31 January 1920 – 20 June 2016) was a French journalist, writer, and feminist activist.
Life and career Groult was born on 31 January 1920 in Paris. She was the daughter of André Groult and Nicole Poiret, sister of Paul Poiret and herself a fashion designer, and was raised in the Parisian upper class. Groult attended the Sorbonne, where she studied Latin and Greek. After her studies in literature ended in 1953, she worked as a journalist for television. Before publishing a book of her own in 1972, she co-wrote three books with her younger sister Flora. On her own she eventually published twenty novels and numerous essays on feminism.
Because Benoîte Groult was a feminist, her novels often deal with topics such as the history of feminism, discrimination against women, and misogyny.
Her novel , published in 1988, was called pornographic by some because of its explicit sexual depictions. It was filmed by Andrew Birkin in 1992 as Salt on Our Skin.
In April 2010, she became Commander of the .
In popular culture Benoîte Groult was the subject of several documentary films. Anne Lefant devoted the documentary to Groult, who was 86 years old at the time. It includes testimonies of Josyane Savigneau, Paul Guimard and Yvette Roudy and was published in 2006 by Hors Champ Productions. In 2008 the documentary , written by Marie Mitterrand and directed by Jean-Baptiste Martin, aired on France 5 as a part of the series .
In 2013 Grasset published a graphic novel based on the life of Benoîte Groult, called , by the hand of Catel.
Personal life Benoîte Groult was married three times. In 1944, she married medical student Pierre Heuyer, who died soon afterward of tuberculosis. In 1951, she married journalist Georges de Caunes with whom she had two daughters, Blandine and Lison. She later married the writer Paul Guimard (1921–2004). The couple had one daughter, Constance.
Published books 1962: , novel with her sister Flora Groult. Paris, Denoël. (Diary in duo. London, Barrie and Rockliff, 1965) 1965: , novel with her sister Flora Groult. (Feminine Plural. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 1968.) 1967: , novel with her sister Flora Groult 1972: , Paris, Grasset. 1975: , essay on the social status of women, Paris: B. Grasset, 1975. (Also: sound recording in 2004) 1977: , essay on feminism 1981: , essay 1983: , novel 1986: , text submitted by Benoîte Groult 1988: , Paris, Grasset. 1991: 2006: 2008: , Paris, Grasset. . (My Escape: An Autobiography. New York: Other Press, 2012. )
Sources Flitner, Bettina: (Women with visions – 48 Europeans). With texts by Alice Schwarzer. Munich: Knesebeck, 2004. , 100–103 p.
References
External links
Tagesspiegel, 6. Mai 2007, Interview about aging Benoîte Groult photographed by Bettina Flitner