Chéri is a novel by Colette

Colette

Colette was the surname of the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette . She is best known for her novel Gigi, upon which Lerner and Loewe based the stage and film musical comedies of the same title.-Early life and marriage:Colette was born to retired military officer Jules-Joseph...

 first published in French in 1920. The title character's true name is Fred Peloux, but he is known as Chéri to almost everyone, except, usually, to his wife. This novel was followed by a sequel, La Fin de Chéri

La Fin de Chéri

La Fin de Chéri is a novel written by Colette. It was published in Paris in 1926. It is the sequel to Chéri....

, published in 1926.

Plot summary

The novel is about the separation of Chéri and his lover of six years, the much older Léa de Lonval (as the novel opens he is 25 and she is 49). The two believe their relationship is casual until they are separated by Chéri's marriage at which point they realize they are in love. They spend a miserable six months apart, at which point Chéri appears at Léa's home. They spend the night together and Léa begins to plan their new life together. However, when she learns that Chéri had returned for the moral strength to be a husband, she gives him courage then releases him to return home.

Adaptations

The novel has been adapted to film twice, in 1950 and 2009; and television twice, in 1962 and 1973.

The ballet of Chéri premiered at the Edinburgh Festival

Edinburgh Festival

The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...

 in September 1980. The ballet was choreographed by Peter Darrell

Peter Darrell

Peter Darrell CBE, a ballet choreographer, dancer and founder of the Scottish Ballet, was born Peter Skinner at Richmond, Surrey, on 16 September 1929 and died in Glasgow on 2 December 1987. For almost four decades he had been one of the most productive and imaginative talents in British ballet...

, while the music was composed by David Earl

David Earl

David Earl is a South African composer and pianist. He was educated at Rondebosch Boys' High School. He made his professional debut at the age of sixteen when he broadcast Bach, Chopin and Chabrier on the SABC. In 1968, he performed Felix Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No 1 with the Cape Town...

. The ballet was danced by the Scottish Ballet

Scottish Ballet

Scottish Ballet is the national ballet company of Scotland and one of the four leading ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside the Royal Ballet, English National Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet...

 with the lead roles of Lea and Chéri danced by Patrick Bissell

Patrick Bissell

Walter Patrick Bissell was an American ballet dancer. He was a leading principal dancer with the American Ballet Theater...

 and Galina Samsova

Galina Samsova

Galina Samsova is a retired Russian ballerina. She studied at the Kiev Ballet School and in 1956 graduated into the Kiev Ballet where she became a soloist. In 1960 she married the Canadian Alexander Ursuliak and moved to Canada where she joined the National Ballet of Canada in 1961...

. The set was designed by Philip Prowse

Philip Prowse

Philip Prowse is a stage director and designer, and was one of the triumvirate of directors at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow from 1970 until 2004....

. This ballet was revived by the Hong Kong Ballet

Hong Kong Ballet

The Hong Kong Ballet is Hong Kong's leading professional ballet company, and also the famous group for Classical Ballet, since it founded in 1979....

in 1989.