'Like an organism that is eminently alive'. Interview with Juliette Mézenc, on 'Elles en chambre'

Author(s)

  • Maxime Decout Sorbonne Université
  • Estelle Mouton-Rovira Université Bordeaux Montaigne

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51777/relief18431

Keywords:

women readers, women authors, contemporary literature, gender, writing practices

Abstract

Published in 2014, Elles en chambre is a book devoted to the reading or rereading of some of the great women writers of the twentieth century. Throughout these short chapters, part essay, part narrative and part poem, Juliette Mézenc both explores the ways in which these authors have shaped her experience as a reader, and questions the material conditions of women's writing.The text, addressed directly to male and female readers, passes through the imaginary ‘rooms’ of these women authors, reactivating the legacy of Virginia Woolf. It hence presents reading as a form of literary homage, as a space for reflection on creation and as a gesture of feminist critique. This interview looks at the main issues involved in this work.

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Author Biographies

  • Maxime Decout, Sorbonne Université

    Maxime Decout is professor of literature at Sorbonne University. He is the author of four essays published by Éditions de Minuit on the relationship between writing, reading and interpretation: En toute mauvaise foi (2015), Qui a peur de l'imitation ? (2017), Pouvoirs de l'imposture (2018) and Éloge du mauvais lecteur (2021). He also works on the relationship between Jewishness and literature, to which he has devoted two books: Albert Cohen : les fictions de la judéité (Classiques-Garnier, 2011) and Écrire la judéité (Champ Vallon, 2015). He contributed to the publication of Perec's works in the “Bibliothèque de la Pléiade” (2017) and wrote the Album Romain Gary (“Bibliothèque de la Pléiade”, 2019). His latest book, Faire trace. Les écritures de la Shoah, was published by Éditions Corti in 2023.

  • Estelle Mouton-Rovira, Université Bordeaux Montaigne

    Estelle Mouton-Rovira is an Associate Professor at Bordeaux Montaigne University. Her research focuses on theories of reading and representations of reception and interpretation in contemporary literature. She is also interested in the intermedial aspects of reading (literary performances, digital literature). She is currently preparing the publication of the book resulting from her doctoral thesis, devoted to the imaginaries of reception in contemporary narrative. She is also developing a research project on critical legacies and academic background of contemporary writers.

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Published

2023-12-14

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 2 (2023): Is a woman a reader like any other ?

Section

Interview

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Maxime Decout, Estelle Mouton-Rovira

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

All articles published in RELIEF appear in Open Access under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0). Under this licence, authors retain ownership of the copyright of their article, but they allow its unrestricted use, provided it is properly cited.

How to Cite

Decout, M. and Mouton-Rovira, E. (2023) “’Like an organism that is eminently alive’. Interview with Juliette Mézenc, on ’Elles en chambre’”, RELIEF - REVUE ÉLECTRONIQUE DE LITTÉRATURE FRANÇAISE, 17(2), pp. 190–197. doi:10.51777/relief18431.