The Baby

Translated by Penny Hueston

The Baby is a mother’s project & a writer’s project—how to reconcile these two demanding roles? What is a baby? And why are there so few of them in literature? Through notes taken in the months after her first child was born, Darrieussecq, in her characteristically ingenious style, makes observations that will bring smiles & grimaces of recognition, & raise important questions.

Along with the banal drudgery of childcare, there is the euphoria, the obsession, the terror & the visceral focus on the body. Arguing with ‘Saint de Beauvoir’, Darrieussecq examines how women as mothers are targeted from all angles. How, she asks, can a woman be more & other than a mother?

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Marie Darrieussecq was born in Bayonne in 1969 & is recognised as one of the leading voices of contemporary French literature. Her first novel, Pig Tales, was translated into 35 languages. She has written more than 20 books. Text has published Tom Is Dead, All the Way, Men, Being Here: The Life of Paula Modersohn-Becker, Our Life in the Forest, The Baby, Crossed Lines & Sleepless. In 2013 Marie Darrieussecq was awarded the Prix Médicis & the Prix des Prix for her novel Men. She has written art criticism & journalism for a number of publications, including Libération & Charlie Hebdo, is a translator from English & has practised as a psychoanalyst. Sleepless is her third non-fiction title published by Text. Marie lives in Paris.

mariedarrieussecq.com

Penny Hueston has translated 7 books by Marie Darrieussecq— Sleepless: A Memoir of Insomnia, All the Way, Men, Being Here: The Life of Paula Modersohn-Becker, Our Life in the Forest, The Baby, & Crossed Lines. She was the winner of the 2020 Medal for Excellence in Translation.