Le Cimetière de Vézelay, Yonne (89) #6: Dorothy Thum

Dorothy Thum (1910–66) is described as a 'femme de lettres', but I can't find anything at all that she's written!

Nevertheless, from her grave there's a wonderful view of the countryside:

Le Cimetière de Vézelay, Yonne (89) #5: Christian Zevros

Christian Zervos (1889–1970) was of Greek origin and founded the periodical Cahiers d'art in 1926. His Fondation Christian-et-Yvonne-Zervos is based in Vézelay and designed to finance the professional projects of artists and architects. 

Le Cimetière de Vézelay, Yonne (89) #4: Rosalie Vetch | Rosalia Ścibor-Rylska

Rosalia Ścibor-Rylska, or Rosalie Vetch, is noted for being the mistress of Paul Claudel, and who inspired the characters Ysé in Partage de midi and Prouhèze in Le Soulier de satin. She was a great inspriation to Claudel, whom she met on a boat going from Marseille to China. Her husband Francis Vetch manipulated both of them.

Le Cimetière de Vézelay, Yonne (89) #3: Maurice Clavel

Maurice Clavel (1920–79) was a writer, journalist and philosopher who died in Asquins in the Yonne, close to Vézelay.

Le Cimetière de Vézelay, Yonne (89) #2: Jules Roy

'JULES ROY

ET TATIANA SON ÉPOUSE'

Now a 'Maison des Illustres', the house of Jules Roy (1907–2000), where it is stated that he retired in 1978, is open to the public at a few particular hours. Unfortunately, none of those hours were suitable for our visit.

Le Cimetière de Vézelay, Yonne (89) #1: Georges Bataille

Georges Bataille was born in Billom (Puy-de Dôme) in 1897 and died in Paris in 1962. He first stayed in Vézelay from March to October 1943, where he moved in with his partner Denise Rollin and her sick four-year-old son. He kept a house there for his former partner Sylvia Bataille and Jacques Lacan, who never moved there.

But Diane de Beauharnais Kotchoubey, sticking a pin in the map, came to stay there for a short time. By chance, Kotchoubey read Bataille's L'Expérience intérieure, which staggered her. But it took Denise Rollin's husband (who came to Vézelay to visit his son) to introduce Kotchoubey to Bataille, and the couple returned to Vézelay between 1945 and 1949 and remained in a couple until Bataille's death.

Jules Roy: Vézelay ou l'amour fou (1990)

This is a love story to Vézelay, a village of 435 inhabitants (2014) in the Yonne. Jules Roy (1907–2000) spent more than the final twenty years of his life there, and is buried there along with a number of other notable figures: Georges Bataille, Max-Pol Fouchet, Maurice Clavel and Rosalie Vetch. This is a village reculé, in a cul-de-sac, and it one of the places on the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage map.

Roy's concern is with culture, and as might be expected Vézelay is full of it. Roy goes through the village's history, particularly of the Basilique Sainte Marie-Madeleine. He also speaks of the geography and flora surrounding the village, of the many writers associated with it (also Prosper Mérimée, Paul Claudel and Romain Rolland, for instance), the architects Villet-le-Duc and Jean Badovici, etc.

The tourism Vézelay has attracted doesn't seem to impress him though, and he rather sniffily speaks of American tour guides and cars in winter looking like they're fit for the North Pole. Sniffy is also the word to use for his opinion of Jules Renard, whom he describes as being interested in nothing much. Popular culture seems to be anathema to him, and I found this beautifully written book spoiled by Jules Roy's description of Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot as 'princesses of futility'.