Marie-Madeleine Peyronnet

Marie-Madeleine Peyronnet, born on 30 June 1930 in De Foucauld (French Algeria, now Rechaiga, Algeria, and died on 24 April 2023 in Digne-les-Bains, was personal secretary to explorer Alexandra David-Néel from 1959 to 1969. Nicknamed "Tortue" (Tortoise) by the latter, she worked for her for the last ten years of her life. She wrote a biography of the last ten years of Alexandra David-Néel's life. She has also edited Alexandra's writings, including her extensive correspondence with her husband from 1904 to 1940 (in 2 volumes).

Biography Marie-Madeleine Peyronnet was born on 30 June 1930 in De Foucauld (French Algeria, now Rechaiga, Algeria ). She grew up in Rechaïga, Algeria, where her family has been settled for four generations. Her father, a former soldier, was a civil servant. Marie-Madeleine was raised in a strict, bourgeois Catholic family, but dreamed only of traveling.

At the age of 29, after spending all her youth in Algérois, Marie-Madeleine came to stay with her sister, who owned a hotel, in Aix-en-Provence.

In 1977, she founded the Alexandra David-Néel Association. This is a not-for-profit association under French law, which has developed the museum by enriching its collections. Tibetan folk troupes, musicians, other artists (butter and wood sculptors) and monks who came to make sand mandala which were then exhibited in the museum.

Marie-Madeleine collected and published the Lettres à son mari (Letters to her husband) and other posthumous books by Alexandra David-Néel. In 1973, she published a biography, Dix ans avec Alexandra David-Néel, transferring the copyright to the association.

A biography of Marie-Madeleine Peyronnet was written and published in 2018 by Joëlle Désiré-Marchand, who had already published a biography of Alexandra David-Néel in 2009.

She died on 24 April 2023 in Digne-les-Bains.

Works

Autobiography , (A digital reprint is available).

Comics Anne-Marie Peyronnet took part in writing the script. , the last 3 albums were published in 2017, 2018 and 2020. A digital edition is available.

A. David-Néel's posthumous works edited by Marie-Madeleine Peyronnet Between 1970 and 2018, twenty posthumous works have been published under the responsibility of M-M. Peyronnet. Here are just a few of them:

(This book brings together 5 titles already published during Alex. David-Néel's lifetime, including : Au pays des brigands gentilshommes, Voyage d'une Parisienne à Lhassa, Sous des nuées d'orage,À l'ouest barbare de la vaste Chine, Le vieux Tibet face à la Chine nouvelle. A selection of documents has been added to the set). . This is a selection of texts collected and presented by M-M. Peyronnet and French journalist / editor Marc de Smedt. , combines two books published separately in 1951 and 1958.

Foreword , foreword by André Velter et Marie-Madeleine Peyronnet.