Anna de Noailles, (Anna, Countess Mathieu de Noailles) nee Anna-Elisabeth, Princess de Bassaraba-Brancovan (Basarab-Brancoveanu)

(b. 15 November 1876, Paris – d. Paris, 1933)

Parnassian poet, writer, painter, feminist, socialite, patron of the arts cofounder of the French literary prize Fémina, hostess of Parisian literary salon, Commander of the Legion d’Honneur, Member of the Academie Royale de Langue et de Litterature Francaises de Belgiquede Belgique

 

Selected Quotes:

On Desire:

Pain and death are less involuntary than the choice of desire.

Biography (Excerpt):

Much lionised by the Parisian salons at the turn of the century, Anna de Noailles was born Princess Brâncoveanu to a Romanian father, the Prince Bassarab-Brâncoveanu (Bassaraba-Brancovan), whose family gave their name to the province of Bessarabia; and a Greek mother, Ralouka Musurus. Ralouka, a well-known musician who was idolised by Paderewski, was brought up in London, where her father, Musurus Pasha, was ambassador of the Sublime Porte to the Court of St. James.