From the Roaring Twenties to the Sober Thirties

Abstract Both women started down and then fell off the conventional path of marriage and motherhood. Ségal married a war veteran. Seven years later, shortly after their daughter died, he left her. Auclair published a novel in Chile. She returned to France, continued writing, and, to make a living, worked as advice columnist for the popular daily Paris-Soir. She and author Jean Prévost married and had three children. Meanwhile Ségal, to support herself, started in clothing sales and then moved to clerical work while also starting to write and publish articles. In 1937, Auclair persuaded Paris-Soir’s publisher to launch a new magazine, Marie-Claire. The next year Auclair left her husband after he humiliated her at a dinner party. Their marriages, parenting, divorces, and professional lives taught Auclair and Ségal how to manage pain and survive on their own resources. The two converged in 1939, when Marie-Claire hired Ségal.