Combats et métamorphoses d'une femme by Édouard Louis

Abstract

Reviewed by: Combats et métamorphoses d'une femme by Édouard Louis Jane E. Evans Louis, Édouard. Combats et métamorphoses d'une femme. Seuil, 2021. ISBN 978-2-02-131254-6. Pp. 128. Living with domestic violence provokes diverse reactions, from depression to escape, in its victims. Édouard Louis's latest autofiction depicts the violence within a working-class family in northern France, his own, and focuses on his mother Monique's struggles to assume her autonomy. This environment not only affects the quotidian activities of the family members, but it also shapes their futures. Moreover, the enduring violence influences the narrative format used to recount Louis's childhood and adolescence. The family reflects patriarchal practices: Louis's mother busies herself at home whereas her husband goes to work every day. He sees himself as the essential breadwinner—"[celui qui doit] ramener l'argent au foyer" (86)—even though they cannot survive on his salary alone. Monique thus secretly travels to a food pantry for items to stock the refrigerator, without mentioning these donations to her husband: Such charity would incite his anger. A second example of the family's conservatism reveals itself in its number of children. When Monique becomes pregnant with twins, she contemplates abortion so as not to have seven young mouths to feed. However, her husband insists that Monique carry the fetuses to term despite the household's poverty. Édouard Louis understands from a young age that good grades will facilitate his admission to the university and afford him a better standard of living than his parents'. He leaves his hometown to attend high school in Amiens, where he frequents arts-affiliated friends, many of whom are also gay. For the first time, he enjoys himself without fear of mockery, condemnation, and even fistfights. However, this comfort costs him his close relationship with his mother, who judges him to be striving to leave the working-class milieu into which he was born. Her attitude endangers him besides. When he experiences acute appendicitis, she says, "ce n'[est] rien" (77), the standard reaction to illness among the economically challenged. The author must seek emergency care alone and then spend two weeks recovering from an infected appendix. Louis's estrangement from his family also protects him. In elementary school, he withholds information on upcoming school events from his parents because he does not want them to know how bullied he is there, due to being gay. Later, when he brings Monique to his high school to sign papers, he asks her to behave well in order to not "[me] taper de honte" (72). With this insult, the gap between them widens. The author enhances the story's poignancy by describing a photograph of Monique before marriage and motherhood. Her face, in close-up, is full of promise, according to him. Two other included photographs illustrate family dynamics during Louis's childhood and adult years, respectively. In the latter, the divorced Monique and the author take a "selfie" showing their renewed relationship and happiness. The novel ends with the photo of the teenage Monique dreaming of her future, as if to say that she indeed found "the good life." [End Page 252] Jane E. Evans University of Texas, El Paso Copyright © 2022 American Association of Teachers of French