Mireille Best

French writer (1943–2005)

Mireille Best (4 June 1943 – 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 Alzheimer’s and died in 2005.

Mireille Best’s first publication was a collection of short stories titled Les mots de hasard. It consists of five stories: “L’illusioniste”, “ La femme de pierre”, “Les mots de hasard”, “Le livre de Stéphanie”, and “La lettre”. 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. “Des fenêtres pour les oiseaux”, “Le méchant petit jeune homme”, and “La traversée” all repeat the lesbian theme of Best’s first book. Camille en octobre, Best's second novel, is about the title character falling in love with her dentist’s pregnant wife, Clara. They have a brief affair on Camille’s birthday, but Clara moves away soon afterwards. Camille is left scarred by the non reciprocal nature of her first relationship.

Best’s 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 Best’s work and she is mentioned in a mere handful of books.

Ricouart, Janine. "Enfance Magique Ou Infernale? Un Regards Socio Critique Sur L'œuvre De Mireille Best." Women In French Studies (2003): 150 165. Schechner, Stephanie. "The Lesbian Body In Motion: Representations Of Corporeality And Sexuality In The Novels Of Mireille Best." Lesbian Inscriptions in Francophone Society and Culture. 123 142. Durham, England: Durham Modern Language Series, School of Modern Languages and Cultures, Durham University, 2007. Schechner, Stephanie. "The Young Woman And The Sea: Lesbians Coming Of Age In Coastal Communities In The Novels Of Mireille Best." Women In French Studies. 11. (2003): 50 63. Schechner, Stephanie. “La lutte contre la normalisation : representation de l’adolescence lesbienne dans les oeuvres de Jovette Marchessault et Mireille Best.” De l’invisible au visible: l’imaginaire littéraire et artistique de Jovette Marchessault. Eds. Roseanna Dufault, Celita Lamar. Montréal: Remue ménage, 2012.

de Ceccatty, René, “Les traine soleil de Mireille Best: des tragedies dans un monde gris et timore”, Le Monde (15 March 1991). de Ceccatty, René, “Ça s’appelle l’amour”, Le Monde (7 April 1995). Garréta, Anne F., “A Questionnaire: French Lesbian Writers? Answers from Monique Wittig, Jocelyne François and Mireille Best”, Yale French Studies, 90 (1996), 235 41. Slawy Sutton, Catherine, Review of Orphéa trois, The French Review 66:6(1993), 1037 8.