Abstract EN:

Cécile Sauvage (1883-1927), Olivier Messiaen's mother, published only two books, Tandis que la terre tourne (1910) and Le vallon (1913). Therefore, our purpose has been to collect her works, composed of poems scattered in literary magazines of the turn of the century, or unpublished writings provided by her son Alain Messiaen or mrs. Y. Loriod-Messi aen. The compilation work includes cross-references and notes. The second part is an essay on melancholy in her poetic writing, through diachronic analysis. From the start, her quest leads her to the denunciation of illusion; through the underlying myth of Persephona, she lays the stress on the essential function of writing. Then comes maternity: beyond the exaltation of the experience, the poet is confronted with her inborn sense of bereavement and her mortiferous power, which bring about actual fits of melancholy. Her incapacity to face the fact that her intimate relationship with the child in her womb was bound to end, her loss oriented outlook on life are expressed through her writing, while that very writing allows the poet, who perceives herself as an object, to be born as a subject. The myth of Ophelia as associated to beauty conveys the idea that, although reality is constantly on the verge of dissolution, it is ultimately salvaged. The last dramas emphasize her quest of the sacred: the father figure, so far ignored, appears and counterbalances the previously compulsive maternal role by putting it in perspective. He gives reality to a world where the other can exist at last, and where loss is overcome.