Rose Combe | |
|---|---|
 Rose Combe in about 1930 | |
| Born | Marie-Rosalie Bugne 14 September 1883 Olmet, France |
| Died | 24 September 1932 (aged 49) Clermont-Ferrand, France |
| Occupation | Level crossing operator |
| Language | French |
| Genre | Proletarian literature |
Rose Combe, born Marie-Rosalie Bugne (14 September 1883 – 24 September 1932), was a French railway worker and writer, viewed as an archetype of Proletarian literature. Born into a poor family, despite receiving little education, she was a voracious reader and memorised one of the few books she had access to, an almanac, by the age of four. She wanted to be a teacher but instead worked for the railway between Ambert and Thiers as a level crossing operator. She continued to write, however, and through the author Henri Pourrat, who lived locally, was first published in 1927. Her work was subsequently printed in L'Auvergne littéraire et artistique and her novel Le Mile des Garre appeared in 1931. She was known as the La Garde-Barrière Auvergnate (the Auvergne Gatekeeper) from her job on the railway. She died in 1932, much of her work still unpublished.