Citation

Gascoigne D. FORUM FOR MODERN LANGUAGE STUDIES 2013; 49(1): 33-44.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/fmls/cqs033

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In Marie Nimier's second novel, La Girafe, key moments of violence and transgressive sex are marked by a leitmotif of strangulation, which feeds into an existing trauma of the protagonist-narrator Joseph, a zoo employee. Joseph's damaged sexual development finds expression in his infatuation with, and need to dominate, Hedwige, a young female giraffe, in whose death by strangulation he is complicit, and in a subsequent violent homosexual encounter. The strangulation motif also features in Marie Nimier's account in La Reine du silence of her father's abusive relationship with her mother, alongside reference to his attempted suicide. A subtle play of names can be seen as pointing towards an indirect evocation of an episode of rape in Roger Nimier's most famous novel, Le Hussard bleu. In each case, it is not just the physical integrity of the female which is at stake in the act of violence, but access to language, embodied in throat (speech) and wrist (writing). This indissoluble link between body and articulation is acutely problematized in Marie Nimier's writing, and in the view she develops of her identity and her project as a writer. © The Author (2012). Published by Oxford University Press for the Court of the University of St Andrews. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Violence; Sexual identity; Language; Strangulation; Body; Articulation; Nimier, Marie; Nimier, Roger