Entretien avec Maryam Madjidi sur Marx et la poupée et Pour que je m’aime encore

Abstract

In this interview with Dervila Cooke, Maryam Madjidi primarily discusses her autobiographical text Marx et la poupée (2017). She speaks of her literary influences and stresses the importance of having journeyed far away from both France and Iran and having stayed away for a long time, in order to be able to write about exile with the necessary balance. She points to the dense foundational texts that are interwoven into the finished object. Politically, Madjidi emphasizes the French-washing that she and other immigrant students underwent during their induction into French school. She speaks of the “entreprise de nettoyage” in “classes d’initiation,” and of what one could hope for in place of such a system. She promotes the notion of welcome (“accueil”) over the concepts of assimilation or integration. She speaks of her second work, Pour que je m’aime encore (2021), which she was writing at the time of this interview. She notes the boredom she experienced growing up in the Parisian suburb of Drancy, of the ghosts of WW2 that haunt it, and of the invisible walls between Paris and its suburbs. Lastly, she emphasizes her wish to use more humor in her work, while still dealing with serious material.