Deutsch
Cécile Hofer-Houriet, born on January 13, 1891 in Couvet in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel, died on December 11, 1964 in Sanary-sur-Mer, France, author of seven novels that appeared under the French author's name Cilette Ofaire. From 1912 she lived in Paris with her husband Charles Hofer. In addition to her passion for painting and drawing, she worked as a secretary and also as a nude model. The artist couple sailed canals and rivers all over Europe in their houseboat, which became Ofaire's first literary work "Le San Luca". After the separation, she undertook further sea voyages, but lost her ship in the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War. However, in the novel "L'Ismé", which was written in 1938/39 in a village near Toulon and was first published in 1940 by the Lausanne Guilde du Livre, it got going again: as a strangely astonishing image and symbol of the insatiable longing of a courageous woman for boundless, uncivil freedom. The Swiss flag flew over the stern of the Ismé, and even as an author, Cilette Ofaire never completely lost sight of her homeland. As early as 1938, the cycle of stories "Sylvie Velsey" contains wistful memories of her childhood in the Jura, and her most compact book, the novel "Chemins" from 1945, reflects a true experience from 1935 and depicts a brief return of the 44-year-old Sylvie to the Val -de-travers. In 1961 she had difficulty finding a publisher for her last book, «La Place», and after her death on December 11, 1964, Cilette Ofaire was quickly forgotten completely, until 1987 when the Cantonal and University Library of Neuchâtel opened a comprehensive exhibition of her works in her memory.
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