Who is Colette from Answered Prayers: The Unfinished Novel and what is their importance?

"Colette" was the pen name of a well-known French novelist. Her work drew heavily on real life experiences, and she thinly disguised those experiences in her work. Colette's sexual adventurousness, proto-feminism, liberal activism, and above all her narrative style, all serve to reinforce the premise that her presence in the narrative is, on some level, an affirmation of Jones' similar ambition, perspectives and and narrative style, while the gift she gives him, the crystal paperweight, is symbolic of that affirmation.