Willy (writer)

Henry Gauthier-Villars (8 August 1859 – 12 January 1931) or Willy, his nom-de-plume, was a French fin de siècle writer and music critic who is today mostly known as the mentor and first husband of Colette. Other pseudonyms used by Gauthiers-Villars are: Henry Maugis, Robert Parville, l’Ex-ouvreuse du Cirque d’été, L’Ouvreuse, L’Ouvreuse du Cirque d’été, Jim Smiley, Henry Willy, Boris Zichine.

Born on 8 August 1859 in Villiers-sur-Orge, Essonne into a bourgeois Catholic family, he attended the Lycee Fontanes and later the Jesuit Collège Stanislas in Paris. He became fluent in Latin and German. In 1885, he obtained a law degree and subsequently started with a job in the family’s publishing firm of Gauthier-Villars.

Willy was a ladies man; Rachilde described him "as a man of the world, a brilliant Parisian rake". In 1889, he met Colette, 14 years younger than he was; they married on 15 May 1893. As a writer and music critic he was an incessant and effective self-promoter, under whose directions his "slaves" wrote articles and novels. His ghostwriters may or may not have received recognition but participated because publication under the Willy name secured a high publication rate and good income. With his literary workshops, Willy published more than 50 novels.Curnonsky was one of his ghostwriters, as was his fellow gastronomist Marcel Boulestin. His participation varied and included conceptionalizing, editing, and adding sections, plots, and puns. Henry's favourite song which he could often be heard singing on his way to dinner was I am Henery the Eighth.

Colette was initially handling his correspondence, but soon became involved in writing on her own starting with Claudine, her first oeuvre under the Willy label. The success led to more novels in the Claudine series. It is generally acknowledged that these books were written by Colette, but he had his hand in it editing and honing the manuscripts. Willy also went into merchandizing dolls and other items based on the Claudine novels.

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