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Loading... I Who Have Never Known Men (1995)by Jacqueline Harpman
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3.5/5 stars I feel so bad for not loving this as much as I though I would. This is a really interesting book that I fully expected to be a 5 star read given that on paper, it contains everything that I generally love in a book despite it being set in a dystopian time period. For a piece of speculative fiction, I don't feel like I necessarily took any new insights away from the story. I favor reading longer books because it takes a lot for me to be invested in characters, so maybe this being just over 200 pages inhibited the way I was able to feel connected to the story. I've seen so many people say that this is a book that will stick with them for a long time, but ultimately I found it quite forgettable. The narrator is the youngest of a group of 40 women who were kidnapped/selected to live in a bunker underground watched over by male guards who do not talk to them or each other, using the lash of a whip near them to communicate displeasure or breaking of the rules. Being the youngest she is the only one who has no recognition of a past life, normality or rationality, understanding only the absurd. Philosophical, not really dystopian, although it has been described as such. Published in French in 1995. A colleague brought it to my attention, she was about to start it herself. A new to me, Belgian author, I think only one other of her works in English. watch here: https://www.youtube.com/@starkissedstories stunning. bleak yet beautiful. about what it means to be human. I would have given it more but the mood, and ending of this story is definitely not one I'd call happy - a bit too devastating for me to be a 5 star but so well done. "I was forced to acknowledge too late, much too late, that I too had loved, that I was capable of suffering, and that I was human after allâŚ" Belgian psychoanalyst and author Jacqueline Harpman (1929-2012) wrote over fifteen novels and won several literary prizes. I confess with some shame that I had never heard of her. Perhaps I might be forgiven considering the dearth of English translations of her works. Harpmanâs 1995 novel Moi Qui Nâai Pas Connu les Hommes was the first to be translated into English (originally with the title Mistress of Silence) and, although I stand to be corrected, I believe that of her other novels, only the Prix Medicis prize-winner "Orlanda" is also available in English. Mistress of Silence has now been reissued by Vintage Books with the title I Who Have Never Known Men, in the translation by Ros Schwartz, a veteran translator from the French who was made a Chevalier de lâOrdre des Arts et des Lettres in 2009. The novelâs premise is simple: in an undefined period in the near future, we meet forty women who are kept prisoners in a cage in an underground bunker, guarded by a group of armed men, and supplied with just the basic necessities of modern life â electricity, food, water and medication. Eventually, the women manage to escape, only to find themselves roaming what seems to be an uninhabited, post-apocalyptic alien world. The older women hazily but fondly recall a different ânormalityâ, one in which they went around the daily business of life â working, falling in love, raising families. The unnamed narrator is a teenager who has only known life in the bunker. She has no other recollections and is aware that she will never share the experiences which the other women wax nostalgic about. She tries to learn about the past, only to realise that it will serve her no purpose in this strange environment where she will ânever know menâ. This new edition of the novel is very clearly meant to capitalise on the current interest in feminist dystopian fiction and it is surely no coincidence that it features a new introduction by Sophie Mackintosh, author of [b:The Water Cure|39335566|The Water Cure|Sophie Mackintosh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1521604165l/39335566._SY75_.jpg|56832986]. Female prisoners guarded by men, escaping to form a utopia in which they manage to survive without the opposite sex⌠it certainly is a plot which invites a feminist reading. Yet, as Mackintosh perceptively notes, the novel âis not necessarily extolling this kind of existenceâ and might even be suggesting that âthis settling is the downfall of the womenâ. Perhaps itâs fairer to say that rather than seeking to ponder âwhat it means to be a womanâ or, for that matter, âa manâ, Harpman is more interested to explore what it is that makes us âhumanâ. The older women have memories of life on Earth to remind them of their humanity â the narrator is, on the other hand, a blank slate, with no preconceived âsocial constructsâ apart from what she has vaguely gleaned from her fellow prisoners. She has to discover anew the meaning of an existence to which there appears to be no mapped-out purpose. This novel raises striking philosophical concepts and provides much food for thought. Depending on the readerâs tastes, this could also be its weakness. In fact, this is, in my view, an example of a ânovel as thought experimentâ. We are given just enough narrative on which to append philosophical discourse. Interesting as that is, anyone looking for page-turning thrills will likely be disappointed. On my part, I felt short-changed by the lack of cogent explanations behind several basic elements of the plot. I like some ambiguity in a plot, but this novel possibly leaves too much to oneâs imagination. Yet, thereâs no escaping the effectiveness of the novelâs bleak imagery, and I have this suspicion that it will remain with me for a long time. https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2019/04/i-who-have-never-known-men.html no reviews | add a review
Belongs to Publisher SeriesHarvill (236) Has as a commentary on the text
Fantasy.
Fiction.
Literature.
HTML: Deep underground, thirty-nine women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only a vague recollection of their lives before. As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girlâ??the fortieth prisonerâ??sits alone and outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others' escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground. Jacqueline Harpman was born in Etterbeek, Belgium, in 1929, and fled to Casablanca with her family during WWII. Informed by her background as a psychoanalyst and her youth in exile, I Who Have Never Known Men is a haunting, heartbreaking post-apocalyptic novel of female friendship and intimacy, and the lengths people will go to maintain their humanity in the face of devastation. Back in print for the first time since 1997, Harpman's modern classic is an important addition to the growing canon of feminist speculative literature No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)843.914Literature French French fiction Modern Period 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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When it comes to bleak dystopia, it is a genre that I am always attracted to, but usually leaves me frustrated. In that respect, this book was at the same level of uneasiness it caused me during reading as Oryx and Crake, but the concept in this one is muddled and there is less to hold onto.
I went into this knowing not to expect much of a plot or world-building. It wasn't really a spoiler as this is a novel of ideas. But, I felt a little bit let down. This ended up not being a feminist novel. The title was somewhat misleading in that respect even if it is factual.
On a more general level, it was only partially satisfying as a novel about what it means to be human. The main character remains strangely emotionally detached from the rest of the group, even though she seems to like one of the women who was a sort of mentor to her. It is impossible not to draw parallels with some traumatizing historical events and expect that such a level of trauma would inspire a much stronger emotional connection. But, I don't think the point of this novel is to be "realistic", it is just too abstract for that to matter. But for that level of abstraction, I personally expect a better concept than what we get from this novel.
It was difficult to believe it was written by a girl raised in a cage who could barely read and write, esp. since the prose is so good. But, overall this is an interesting novel that leaves you frustrated and with a lot to think about. It just isn't as polished as I wanted it to be. ( )