Mireille Best (4 June 1943 â 16 January 2005) was a French author, known for her works of fiction featuring lesbian characters and themes.
Mireille Best was born in 1943 at Le Havre and raised by her grandmother, Albertine Best. A sickly child with hearing problems, she attended school infrequently. However, Best was a precocious child, reading Les Misérables at age 5. Despite the concerns of her mother, Best attended high school. There, she met Jocelyne Crampon, her future partner. However, multiple illnesses kept Best away from school long enough to prevent her from graduating. For some time, Best worked in a clothing factory, sewing plastic garments. After an accident with the machinery, Best took another job, at the urging of her mother. She and her partner traveled south, to Fréjus, and Best became a civil servant.
Best developed early-onset AlzheimerâÂÂs and died in 2005.
Mireille BestâÂÂs first publication was a collection of short stories titled Les mots de hasard. It consists of five stories: âÂÂLâÂÂillusionisteâÂÂ, â La femme de pierreâÂÂ, âÂÂLes mots de hasardâÂÂ, âÂÂLe livre de StéphanieâÂÂ, and âÂÂLa lettreâÂÂ. The first four center around lesbian relationships and indirect criticism of socially instilled lesbophobia. The book won the Ville du Mans Prix de la nouvelle in 1981 and received glowing reviews from Le Monde.
The second book, Le méchant petit jeune homme, was a collection of three short stories. âÂÂDes fenêtres pour les oiseauxâÂÂ, âÂÂLe méchant petit jeune hommeâÂÂ, and âÂÂLa traverséeâ all repeat the lesbian theme of BestâÂÂs first book.
BestâÂÂs third book of short stories, Une extrême attention, contains âÂÂPsaume àFrédériqueâÂÂ, âÂÂLâÂÂencontreâÂÂ, âÂÂLe gardien de la choseâÂÂ, âÂÂUne extrême attentionâÂÂ, âÂÂMémoire-écrinâÂÂ, and âÂÂLa conversationâÂÂ. In this collection, she moves away from the lesbian theme, preferring to focus on stories highlighting the difficulty of communication.
Mireille BestâÂÂs first full-length novel is titled Hymne aux murènes and centers around the life of Mila, a young adolescent institutionalized for having âÂÂwingsâÂÂ. She falls in love with Paule, a junior member of staff. Paule appears to return her affections, but then shows interest in another girl. In revenge, Mila stages a performance of âÂÂThe Little MermaidâÂÂ, casting the other girl as the mermaid and herself as the Prince. She then runs away from the hospital and returns home.
Camille en octobre, Best's second novel, is about the title character falling in love with her dentistâÂÂs pregnant wife, Clara. They have a brief affair on CamilleâÂÂs birthday, but Clara moves away soon afterwards. Camille is left scarred by the non-reciprocal nature of her first relationship.
Best returned to short story writing with Orphéa trois. The book's stories included âÂÂOrphéa TroisâÂÂ, âÂÂPromenade en hiverâÂÂ, âÂÂLe MessagerâÂÂ, and âÂÂLune morteâÂÂ. While the stories shared a lesbian theme, they were darker, featuring âÂÂlesbophobia, and, more unusually, violence between lesbian lovers, who have often been stereotypically represented as pacific, mutually respectful, and free from the violent, possessive jealousy naturalized in men. This relatively bleak angle on lesbianism may partly explain at least two reviewersâ perception of a disillusioned tone in Orphéa trois.âÂÂ
BestâÂÂs third novel, Il nâÂÂy a pas dâÂÂhommes au paradis, follows the life of Josèphe, focusing on her relationship with her intolerant mother and with her estranged girlfriend Rachel.
One notable feature of BestâÂÂs writing style was that she never used a semi-colon, claiming an inexplicable hatred of them. Instead, she used spaces to punctuate the pauses where a comma would be too short and a period would be too long.
BestâÂÂs works were published by Gallimard and her publications include:
<br>Some of her work has been translated, to Dutch :
<br>To German :
<br>And to English :
BestâÂÂs work was published at the prestigious press Gallimard and was well received by critics. However, little academic criticism has been published on her oeuvre. To date, only a few articles have been published on BestâÂÂs work and she is mentioned in a mere handful of books.