From joy to sorrow
The first phase of Marie Noël's literary career open doors to a wider religious public. Her poetry was included in anthologies, but also in reviews and parish and school journals. Many schoolchildren learned her poems by heart as little songs.
The second, darker, period of her literary career began after the Second World War. Her texts reveal a soul unceasingly torn between the joy of living and the pain of solitude, with its dereliction and sadness. At times even essential hope, one of the Catholic theology's virtues[1] , appears to be absent. Among the many Chants d'arrière-saison that could be cited, the Chant de la peine [song of sorrow] is perhaps the most eloquent .
In Notes intimes, she gives an account of her torments of faith in prose. In the preface, the author emphasises that “the reading of this is not for everyone”. The text consists of fragments chosen from her memories, or seemingly randomly inspired notes. Sometimes joyful, light, or amusing, sometimes grave and more erudite, they give an account of the author's bitterness, her doubts, her disappointments, her heartbreak, and describe the depressive periods of her life. Here she seems obsessed by evil and suffering. With perfect clarity, she expresses the difficulties she experiences in communicating with God.
This work came at just the right time to influence the literature of witness which fits perfectly with the testimonies of those called on by the Church to take their vows. She was also part – no doubt unknowingly – of a liberation of women's voices which is shown in the great many autobiographical accounts written by the first women who were endowed with greater scholarly capital, in a way the first women 'intellectuals',in the same period. Marie Noël's writings were an undeniable success, essentially with a Catholic public. As an indication of the extent of her influence, Notes intimes was translated and published in Italian, German, Portuguese and English.
