Disrupted intimacy, female identity, and social attitudes: Vanessa Springora and Camille Laurens

Abstract

This article is a reflection on some aspects of contemporary French literature and its place and resonance in society. Through selected book titles that have not yet been translated into Slovak, it offers an opportunity to look into essential aspects of current literary events by female authors, the topics they deal with, and the social significance of their work. In general, there is an urgent need to discuss “untouchable” and sensitive topics of female identity, which is closely related to social attitudes and how they have changed over the last three decades. This need is often based on suppressed, violated, and otherwise disrupted female intimacy. Writing seems to be a way of naming inner injuries and a therapeutic tool for coping with hidden traumas for the authors themselves. This analytical and interpretative study focuses on the recent works of Vanessa Springora and Camille Laurens and tries to capture the image of (French) society as the background to the novels and especially as their agent and recipient. The selection of the works should not be seen as a generalizing summary of the character of writing by contemporary female authors but rather as an outline of a certain direction in French literature and an opportunity to evaluate social responses to it.