Paule Riversdale is a pseudonym shared by the French-speaking British poet Renée Vivien (born Pauline Mary Tarn) and the extremely wealthy baroness Hélène de Zuylen (born Hélène de Rothschild), who were lovers from 1902 to 1907.
The creation of the pseudonym - which evokes the real name of Renée, Pauline Tarn (Paule/Pauline, River/Tarn River)[1] — is complete by that of the associated character, forged by the two women, of an American women living in Japan who occasionally visits Paris[2]. Renée Vivien rarely admitted to the hoax, even to those closest to her.
More than ten works had been written in collaboration by the two women, with four published under the pseuonym, exclusively in 1903 and 1904:
- Vers l'amour, poems, Paris, Februrary 1903, éditions Maison des poètes;
- Échos et reflets, poems, Paris, 25 July 1903, éditions Alphonse Lemerre;
- L'Être double, novel, Paris, 1904, éditions Alphonse Lemerre;
- Netsuké, novel, Paris, 1904, éditions Alphonse Lemerre.
The true attribution of these texts is unknown, but researchers believe that they have been written only by Renée Vivien or at least in large part by Renée Vivien[2]: If the subjects covered are distinct from those of her own works, and the metrics, prosody and semantics employed are characteristic of her pen.
[[Category:Pseudonymous writers]]