Bebelusul

by Marie Darrieussecq

Vous n'êtes pas parent et vous pensez qu'un livre consacré au bébé vous tombera des mains ? Vous avez tort. Vous croyez, avec Beauvoir, qu'on "ne peut être intellectuelle et bonne mère", vous faites fausse route. Le dernier-né de Marie Darrieussecq est la preuve du contraire. L'universitaire et maman consacre la chair d'un très beau petit livre à son très jeune bébé, plus nourrisson pas encore enfant. Elle interroge ce qu'est une mère, ce qu'est un bébé, en donnant ses lettres de noblesse à un sujet absent de la littérature.

"Bébé disent les publicitaires, certaines puéricultrices, les psychologues de magazines, les manuels pour parents… L'absence d'article est comme certains tutoiements, un chantage à l'intimité et un mépris de la pensée… J'écris pour renouveler la langue, pour fourbir les mots comme on frotte des cuivres – le bébé, la mère : entendre un son plus clair." En deux cahiers, elle donne au bébé, une majuscule et un article, une coloration universelle et très particulière. En trois saisons, l'écriture et l'apprentissage de sa "fibre maternelle", deux plein temps difficilement conciliables, s'enrichissent mutuellement. Du malaise à l'amour, du dégoût à l'enthousiasme, le texte est à la fois suspendu aux caprices d'un petit être énigmatique et nourri d'une expérience incomparable. Les voix de la "jeune mère", de l'auteur, de l'information brute, de la protectrice exaspérée ou idolâtre, traversent ce court récit fragmenté, laissé au flux naturel de la pensée. Marie Darrieussecq nous livre ici une sorte d'album drôle, intime et cultivé, dont la justesse et la liberté de ton nous tendent les bras. Impossible d'y résister… --Claire Pardieu

Genres: Nonfiction, France, Memoir, French Literature

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Marie Darrieussecq was born on January 3, 1969. She was raised in a small village in the Basque Country.

While finishing her PhD in French Literature, she wrote her first novel, Truismes (Pig Tales) which was published in September 1996 by Paul Otchakovsky-Laurens (POL), who have published all her subsequent novels as well. After the success of Truismes, Darrieussecq decided to quit her teaching position at the University of Lille to concentrate on writing her novels. Her first husband was a mathematician, her second is an astrophysicist. She gave birth to a son in 2001 and to a daughter in 2004.

Reviews

[Dawn's book diary · Rating 4 out of 5]

خوندن روایت‌های آدما رو دوست دارم؛مخصوصاً روایت‌های مادرانه،پدرانه یا والدانه!
توی این کتاب هم “ماری داریوسک” روایت چند ماهه‌ی اول مادرانگیش رو برامون تعریف می‌کنه. حس و حالش در اون روزای اول،کشف چیزای جدید درباره‌ی نوزاد خودش و کلاً آدمیزاد و تغییراتی که‌ توی طرز فکر و‌نگاهش به اطراف به وجود اومده واقعاًخوندنیه.
برای خود من چند جای کتاب خیلی عجیب بود -اونقدر عجیب که چندبار اون پاراگراف رو‌خوندم- که فکر می‌کنم احتمالا ً باید بذارمش پای تفاوت فرهنگ‌ها.
کتاب جمع و جور و خوش‌خوانی بود و دوستش داشتم!✌🏼

[Ayelen Arostegui · Rating 5 out of 5]

Darrieussecq es espectacular. Escribe una reflexión tierna, graciosa y amorosa sobre cómo el bebé debe sentirse frente al mundo y sobre el placer que le provoca a ella ese ser humano nuevo (me gusta esa perspectiva de madre que disfruta, sin cinismo). Hay que tener muchísima empatía para escribir algo así de hermoso.

[telma · Rating 5 out of 5]

le livre que j’ai toujours voulu lire en fait
trop fort. absolument sublime, avec des alternances de drôleries, de légèretés.
envie d’avoir un bébé mais bref

[Text Publishing]

‘Darrieussecq ruminates on both the magical and trivial ins-and-outs of motherhood and contemplates topical questions around how we define mothers. The book is as much of a must-read for those with children, as it is for those considering whether (or not) to have them.’
Elle

[Meneer Van Kuppevelt · Rating 3 out of 5]

In een aflevering van BoekenFM kwam op 4 februari een lezersvraag voorbij: 'Wat zijn boeken die goed de liefde beschrijven van een ouder voor een kind?' En meer specifiek: die het wonder van een baby in taal kunnen vangen? Voor mij op dat moment (opnieuw) een bijzonder interessante vraag (want: een dag later, baby!).

Marja Pruis noemde dit boek: De baby: noities van een jonge moeder. Het leek me moeilijk dat specifieke gevoel, wanneer de baby er is, onder woorden te brengen. Ook Marie Darrieussecq worstelt daarmee: wat kun je in literatuur of non-fictie nog toevoegen aan originele bewoordingen over dat wat een baby je brengt, zonder in clichés te vervallen? Welke woorden gebruik je uit, zoals mooi omschreven, de 'overgeleverde woordenkraam' van een geboorte?

Ze schrijft:

'Door de baby raak ik in zekere zin weer op goede voet met gemeenplaatsen; ik word er nieuwsgierig naar, ik til ze op als stenen om te zien hoe daaronder waarheden alle kanten op schieten.'

Naast veel herkenbare passages, blijft het proberen te ontleden van de gemeenplaatsen de hoofdmoot - al komt het boek ook niet heel veel verder dan dat.

'Ik hield meteen van hem: dat is geen holle frase, het had ook anders kunnen zijn.'

'Clichés, afgesleten formules krijgen weer betekenis voor me, ja, want zonder beeldspraak zou ik mijn leven voor hem geven. Voor het eerst is deze frase waar, begrijp ik de waarheid ervan, voor het eerst kan ik dat zeggen.'

[Mafer González · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me encanta este género de libros: maternidad sin tapujos. Muy al estilo de Gabriela Wiener, Marie narra los rituales de humillación de la lactancia, la deuda mundial que las ciudades -quienes las construyen-tienen con las madres, el amor que nace con el miedo enredado cual cordón umbilical y la devoción de la madre por el Santo Bebé🦋

Puntos menos xq utiliza el incesto como metáfora un par de veces y eso me ondeó.

[Amalia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reflexiones sobre bebés, sobre ser madre, y sobre lo loco que es este fenómeno que pasa todo el rato a tanta gente, tan natural y tan increíble a la vez.
Como leer muchos tweets seguidos.

[marcela]

«Ya es un recuerdo».

Se me hace curioso leer este libro cuando nací el mismo año que el bebé que lo protagoniza y lo hace posible, y cuando ni siquiera me veo a mí misma viviendo una experiencia similar pronto. Darrieussecq escribe paralelamente escenas cotidianas y pensamientos muy abstractos sobre el bebé, sobre la vivencia de la maternidad y sobre la identidad de la madre una vez nacido. Un intento de abarcar al máximo los primeros contactos del bebé con el mundo que lo rodea. Una idea que me parece preciosa es la escena donde cuenta que el padre del bebé y ella hacen un álbum de fotos de los objetos, espacios, personas, etc. de la vida del bebé que éste no reconoce aún. Cuando somos mayores nos aferramos a la posibilidad de recordar al máximo nuestra infancia, y cada vez es más borrosa y lejana; hay partes que olvidamos para siempre y quizá se mantengan en la memoria de los demás, y quizá no. Es tan triste como bonito pensar que la memoria muere y con ella un trozo de nuestra vida.

[Bogdan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I am a man and I had no child until now, I was very curios about this book. It promised to be an incursion into this domain, small children and the first days as a new parent.
After starting reading it I found that it is mostly written from mother point of view. An interesting thing for me since I never really understood women very well, and mothers even less. It is quite good to learn mothers first concerns and to be a part of them. What kind of diseases my baby has? Why is he/she crying? What he/she wants to communicate? The answers to those questions are not guaranteed, but at least it is attempted.
I would recommend it for everybody that wants to know more about this topic, like babies and new mothers.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

In her usual thoughtful, intelligent and insightful manner, Marie Darrieussecq here explores motherhood and the conflict with creativity. Is it possible to be a good mother and a good writer? She took notes in the months after her son’s birth and in this honest and open account shares her thoughts and observations, and the challenges of trying to combine her career with caring for a demanding newborn. The insecurities, the worries, the fears, and the joys of motherhood – all will be familiar to any mother, and all mothers will relate to at least some of her experiences. For me personally, as someone who isn’t creative, I sometimes found the book somewhat too solipsistic and my pragmatism just wanted to tell her to stop thinking and just get on with the task in hand, but overall I did find the book relatable, and the day- to-day difficulties of suddenly being wholly responsible for another being all too recognisable.

[elbow ☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars
hm. interesting.



i still don't want kids though.

[Bianca · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh, this book! Gave me creepy vibes, the type of relationship in this book seems unhealthy to me, but hey, to each it's own.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein klitzekleines bisschen mulmig war mir, als ich - kinderlos und wahrscheinlich auch so bleibend - das schmale Buch aufschlug. Was würde es mit mir machen? Ein unbeschönigter Blick auf "Das Baby", ist das nicht "gefährlicher" für möglicherweise doch noch in mir schlummernde Sehnsüchte, als eindeutig begeisterte, im Rückblick beschönigte Erzählungen über die ersten Monate der Mutterschaft?

Einen Sonntagvormittag später war ich außerhalb der Gefahrenzone, um einen leichtfüßigen Bericht reicher, der vor allem das Staunen über dieses neue, so fremde Wesen und die Annäherung über die Monate authentisch vermittelt. Ich schätzte die Offenheit der Autorin, auch die sinnliche Anziehung, die sie zu ihrem Baby spürte, oder die sadistischen Anflüge ihm gegenüber nicht auszusparen. (Sinngemäß schreibt sie an einer Stelle: "Ein Baby bringt das Schlechteste und das Beste in einem hervor.")

[Delphine · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'ai lu en une nuit Le Bébé de Marie Darrieussecq, récit de son expérience comme jeune mère d'un petit garçon né en 2001. Son récit est émouvant, bouleversant quand elle parle de son fils en couveuse et plein de confiance. Il m'a étrangement calmée, apaisée, en me faisant comprendre que l'on ne devenait pas pour autant une vache laitière sans vie intellectuelle et qu'on passait juste à une dimension différente de la vie.

Un beau récit…

[Andrei · Rating 2 out of 5]

Prea imprastiata si lipsita de directie, e mai mult o serie de observatii fara prea multa incarcatura de sens

[Julie Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started translation in September 2017, but stopped at page 104 in January 2018 because of a word.

Tried to continue in 2018 but I stopped. I keep trying but the connection is lost.
*
I have a fondness for Marie Darrieussecq’s books (for this review I will call the Author MD). I’ve read a few of MDs books during my academic learning, and after. I was prompted to read this book by a Lecturer at the Hull University in the Modern Languages Department. She knew I liked MDs work and gave me a copy of White. White is another fantasy fiction, but with MD being a Psychologist, I wanted to hear more of her non-fiction words, alike Simone De Beauvoir maybe? The only non-fiction MD book available was Le Bebe. Hmmm.

I thought.

I will buy it. It was a reasonable price, and if I never read it, it is one for the Study Shelf, because, I connected with the title for my own personal reasons.

The subject of the baby I found fascinating, going from independent female to a mother role, was the most enormous shift I have experienced so far in life and I was intrigued to connect with MDs non-fiction words about her own experiences of childbirth and parenting.

My own French language - by the way - is officially an E grade in the realms of GCSE results, and I have never been to France in my entire life, much to my regret. I never took to the language, it was so difficult to learn the masculine and the feminine switching, I gave up, and told myself, avoid France and then you never have to feel so incapable again.

If only it was so easy to have this approach to everything in life. It isn’t! And on my own journey translating the book for myself in my own very basic ability, armed with an Oxford Mini-dictionary and an old French to English Dictionary which only showed me words from A to H. It was a hard-old traditional slog. A little like parenting.

The whole process in learning and translating a new language, knowing full well, I hadn’t grasped every word correctly, I urged myself to default to a PC app, or translator, but I promised myself, I would learn the good old-fashioned way, hands on and for myself.

By the time I reached page 104 I was exhausted and then quite annoyed to see a term of reference used by a popstar from old, 'Madonna' was advertising an expletive written upon her T-Shirt. Ouch!

After committing four months of my life to translating a non-fiction world about the baby, I was traumatised to see this word used. (I shouldn’t have been, because MDs books often surprise me, but I had become so deeply involved with the translation, I felt connected somehow, and disappointed that the innocence of childhood and parenting could be tainted.

C’est la vie!

Point! There must be a point to this review, or else, why read it?

I tried to reconnect with the book this year. I wanted to finish it, but I couldn’t. Somewhere on my journey in translation I became discouraged, and agreed with myself that France should be left alone (my French interpretations at least). I should walk away and accept that I will never be able to appreciate the language in its full glory because, I feel unprepared to tackle those final pages.

Maybe one day I will be prepared, but for now this book is shelved, I lost my faith in it. It doesn’t require my time anymore, I am no longer a mother of babies.

Thankfully my discouragement with this book and the learning of French does not relate to every facet of my own life.

Over time, life moves on and the children age, time allows for a process of healing and I may return to the book and decide it is the right time to revisit it, but if anyone is out there in the meantime, and fancies translating the book into English for me so that I don’t have to work so hard with grief and become so deeply connected to the language exchange. Please do!

You will be the life saver as the translators of MDs Fantasy Works are today.


Julie Spencer
Creative Writing and Philosophy

[Carlos Marques · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprei este livro quando tinha 18, numa livraria, por 5 euros. Nunca tinha ouvido falar da autora. O tema nem me interessava tanto. Deixei na prateleira durante todo este tempo. Acabei o agora. Gostei bastante. Uma prova de que as vezes temos de ler livros que nunca ouvimos.

O livro é sobre a Marie Darrieussecq a viver o primeiro ano de maternidade. Contado através de textos curtos explora a relação entre maternidade e arte. Será que uma exclui a outra? E o que fazer quando um ser estranho, que não fala, não percebe, não vê aparece quase como por magia de dentro de uma pessoa? A evolução de recém-nascido para bebé para criança é uma viagem fascinante de descoberta tanto para a mãe como para o bebé que não têm uma formula e contudo tem um final destinado: o ser adulto. Marie tem assim reflexões metafisicas sobre o processo com que aprendemos o que somos: o lugar no mundo, o gênero, tudo o que nos define como pessoa. Além disso Marie descreve bem a estranheza do amor materno por um lado doce e leve por outro sufocante, como se o amor não fosse pessoal mas quase uma obrigação divina, um obrigação que se têm o prazer de assumir. Há assim uma tensão por todo o texto em que entre duas forças simultâneas, o individual e o coletivo. A dificuldade mas também o prazer da descoberta são o tema central do livro. Gostei em especial da sua adoração ao ato de nascer. Foi refrescante numa cultura que trata o nascimento como um castigo imposto por outrem.

É um livro doce e interessante que se lê rápido sem ser por isso vazio.

[Cris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Am găsit această cărticică de doar o sută de pagini într-un anticariat și, sincer, dacă nu ar fi fost din colecția Cotidianul, probabil nu m-aș fi apropiat de ea niciodată.
Dacă n-ați auzit de ea, n-ați pierdut mare lucru și nici nu e greu de înțeles de ce Marie Darrieussecq nu e o scriitoare prea cunoscută.

În paginile ei a strâns gânduri despre nou-născutul ei, despre maternitate, despre descoperirea de sine în rolul de mamă, despre intimitatea dintre femeie și copil, despre fragilitate și gingășie. Aproape m-a păcălit și emoționat pe alocuri prin descrieri reușite, dar rare. Sunt și câteva trimiteri interesante la scriitori cunoscuți și la felul în care au surprins ei începutul vieții.

„Și tocmai când ești la capătul răbdării, după un lung tunel al săptămânilor cu alăptare, râgâieli, pipi, caca, bebelușul începe să zâmbească. Zâmbetul lui vine exact la timp pentru a te seduce, pentru a te face să-l păstrezi.”

N-aș ști să spun exact cum am primit cartea: m-a și emoționat, m-a și amuzat, dar m-a și deranjat pe alocuri, mai ales prin felul în care autoarea analizează aproape obsesiv sexul copilului.

[Célia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beaucoup de réflexion qu’une jeune mère peut avoir sont consignées dans ce livre. Et elles sont bien décrites.
On peut ne pas avoir pensé les mêmes choses, toutes les mêmes choses, on peut ne pas être mère et le lire et s’en amusée ou comprendre un peu mieux les parents, et on peut aussi être surpris des remarques sur l’allaitement longue durée qui est évoqué comme presque mauvais. Mais bon, ce livre reflète la pensée de son auteur à un moment X !

[Marine Roux · Rating 4 out of 5]

« Le Bébé » n’est pas un roman mais une somme de réflexions sur la maternité et ce petit d’Homme qui vient bouleverser nos existences. Il se lit un peu comme un manuel d’exploration, l’émotion en plus, dans lequel on vient piocher / picorer quelques pensées.
C’est inspiré, parfois trivial, souvent juste. On sourit, on corne les pages et on se dit régulièrement qu’il faudrait se souvenir de cette phrase ci et de celle-là.
Il faudrait plus de bébé dans la littérature !

[Eleonora Aldea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me gustó mucho. Me encantó que hablara tan desde el cuerpo sobre lo que significa que de una salga un ser humano. La relación corporal de esos primeros meses con tu hijo. Le habría puesto 5 estrellas pero hay un par de referencias al incesto que al principio valoré por la honestidad pero que después simplemente me dieron cosita.

[Miriam Cumming · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why was this book written? How did it get published? I have so many questions but no answers. I expected to relate to this book, being a writer and a mother, but I can't say I did. Motherhood is nothing like incest, as the author claims. Creepy and judgemental. Yuck.

[Luis Natividad G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me parece un libro realista y lo que necesitamos los padres primerisos, así la realidad.. El como es.... Nada de bello hermoso el país de las maravillas sino como en realidad es..... Primer libro de padre primerizo así que allí vamos.

[Daria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A recently-discovered obsession with Darrieussecq continues.

[Lucie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Agréable à lire, une vision originale et vraie sur la maternité. Les mots sont justes, rien n'est niais. Des réflexions intéressantes.

[petit · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5

[Emilie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unlike Anne Enright's 'Making Babies', I didn't feel I was sharing a universal experience with the author. Some paragraphs I liked, but it was all too fragmentary and quite cold in tone.

[Dina Rahajaharison · Rating 3 out of 5]

"C'est un ambassadeur d'un très petit pays, sans pouvoir effectif, mais dont la position géostratégique nous incite aux plus grands égards."

[Cecile · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very relatable in parts but also a bit disjointed. I wonder how much was lost in translation? I appreciated the honesty of the writing but it fell a little flat for me as a whole.

[Mihai-Andrei · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.3/5