Tinkerers

Chapters in this book

1. Front Matter i
2. Contents v
3. Acknowledgments ix
4. Introduction xi
5. Stories Imagined and Real
6. Conversation in the Metro 3
7. Divine 5
8. The Woman Who Sings 8
9. Jealousy 11
10. By the Bay of Somme 14
11. Makeup 20
12. The Dancer’s Song 23
13. Loves 25
14. The Mirror 29
15. Gone Fishin’ 33
16. Masked Ball on the Riviera: Cyclamen and Buttercup, or the Costume Ball of the Feet 38
17. Shipwrecked on a Traffic Island 43
18. Colette’s Advice Column
19. From Denise in Despair: 49
20. From A Tormented Heart: 52
21. From Minerva: 54
22. “I love a young man . . .” 56
23. Colette on Love 58
24. Colette on Women Growing Older 62
25. You 64
26. Memoirs of Friends
27. Portrait of Marcel Proust 71
28. Remembering Maurice Chevalier 73
29. Portrait of the Poet Léon-Paul Fargue 77
30. Cats, Dogs, and Nature
31. The Cat 83
32. A Dream 84
33. Toby-Dog and Music 86
34. The Bees of Castel-Novel 90
35. Bees 91
36. Morning 92
37. The Summer Beauty 95
38. Snowdrop 98
39. War and Peace
40. Their Letters 101
41. In the Home for Blind Soldiers 103
42. The Eyes of the Dragonfly 105
43. Colette Speaks to Americans 108
44. Parisians Go on Vacation—To Paris 112
45. The Writing Life
46. Ways of Writing 117
47. Letter to My Daughter 121
48. The Young Poet 122
49. Fashions 123
50. Why I’ve Never Written a Children’s Book 125
51. Children’s Books 127
52. Scribes of the Palais-Royal 131
53. On Growing Older 133
54. Colette’s Journalism
55. Tinkerers 137
56. The Discovery 141
57. Poverty Exists Everywhere 143
58. Neighbors 145
59. The Fake Pearl 147
60. Gold 149
61. Laziness 151
62. With Love 155
63. The Silence of Small Children 159
64. Colette on Her Life
65. Magic 165
66. “Just a little bit farther . . .” 167
67. Movies, Theater, and Vaudeville
68. Why I Love Bette Davis 171
69. From Both Sides of the Curtain 173
70. A Distinguished Connoisseur 184
71. French Wine, Perfumes, and Dolls
72. The Wines of France 189
73. Fragrances 191
74. Dolls 194