{"id":48756,"date":"2022-05-24T11:50:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T09:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leregardlibre.com\/?p=48756"},"modified":"2022-09-25T15:59:55","modified_gmt":"2022-09-25T13:59:55","slug":"lecho-des-voix-retroues-des-sirenes-by-colombe-boncenne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leregardlibre.com\/en\/literature\/lecho-des-voix-retroues-des-sirenes-by-colombe-boncenne\/","title":{"rendered":"L'\u00e9cho des voix retrouv\u00e9es \u00abDes sir\u00e8nes\u00bb by Colombe Boncenne"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday books<\/a> - Aude Robert-Tissot<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colombe Boncenne takes us from the touching proximity of a hospital room to a small apartment where a young documentary filmmaker takes in her ailing mother. Gradually, like the echo of a siren's song, the scenery expands from distant memories of vacations and assaults to the dark landscape of a heavy family secret. A trauma that bumps up against the wall of the heroine's story. The echo then turns against the heroine, forcing her into silence, until she encounters mermaids who join her in song.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

One morning in March, during a stay in Copenhagen - in the land of The Little Mermaid<\/em> - my path crossed that of a Danish woman. She approached me in very broken French and seemed intrigued by my reading of the Sirens<\/em> by Colombe Boncenne. We've only been speaking Franglais for a few minutes, so I'm surprised when she asks me if I'm a feminist. I reply, taken aback by such a question, especially out of context, and when I ask her why, she glances at my book and replies: \u00ables sir\u00e8nes\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Mermaids and feminism<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What's the link between mermaids and feminism? Was she referring to The Little Mermaid<\/em>? I came away from this brief encounter full of questions. I felt that something had happened between this woman and me. A kind of underground solidarity. It was as if she'd breathed something strong into me, without saying anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So much the worse if softness is a term too often used to talk about a woman's work. For it is with gentleness that Colombe Boncenne takes us into the life of a radio documentary-maker and her cancer-stricken mother. She gently takes us into the wake of secrecy, abuse and the spell that seems to have fallen on this family, as on so many others. The reader discovers an island that has been submerged for too long, but which resurfaces thanks to the ways of the sirens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

A feeling you can no longer wear<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It's not about women fighting men, nor is it a manifesto of any kind. It's the ordinary story of a woman used to telling stories, who finds herself telling her own. A powerful, guilt-free echo, because it's no longer a feeling to be carried around. Voices have been set free, and this book is proof of that. Even if the path remains winding, literature can only help us along it, supported by finely crafted phrasing and narration like that of Colombe Boncenne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n