Françoise Sagan

Sagan was born Françoise Delphine Quoirez on June 21, 1935 in Cajarc, France to bourgeois parents. She was a passionate reader from a young age, devouring the works of Proust and Camus, among others. Regarded as something of an amoral troublemaker as a youth, Sagan was expelled from a convent school and later the Louise-de-Bettignies School. She went on to attend the Sorbonne in 1952 but dropped out. Sagan published her first novel, Bonjour Tristesse, which she reportedly wrote over the course of several weeks, when she was just 18 years old. The novel was an immediate success, capturing public attention with its provocative themes, and its publication catapulted Sagan into a long and successful literary career. To this day, it remains her best-known work. Sagan’s novels are known for their psychological insight and existential elements, and scholars have noted the French existential philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre’s influence. In addition to novels, Sagan also published plays, lyrics, and screenplays. Though her writing is not overtly autobiographical, there are notable parallels between Sagan’s decadent and often tumultuous personal life and the disillusioned, amoral bourgeois characters who populate many of her works—the notoriety that Bonjour Tristesse generated made Sagan something of a celebrity, and she handled her new wealth and fame haphazardly, living a lavish and indulgent existence rife with substance abuse, fast cars, and gambling. Sagan largely retreated from the public eye after her husband’s death from pancreatic cancer in 1991, and she died effectively bankrupt on September 24, 2004, of a pulmonary embolism at the age of 69.