This week’s text was chosen by Dr Tim Beasley-Murray

The summary of the discussion is written by Amélia Damy

Leïla Slimani was awarded the prestigious Prix Goncourt in 2016 for her newly English-translated novel Lullaby, or Chanson Douce. Slimani takes the reader in the spiritual odyssey of a woman who comes to murder the two children she has been taking care of for several years. What triggers the attention of the reader is the ongoing subtle violence described, starting with the striking sentence “The baby is dead”. The seemingly bloody atmosphere she implements from the beginning awakes the reader’s desire to understand how such a ruthless crime can ever be committed. However, even though bloodlust and violence can make a novel readable, it is not how a Prix Goncourt is awarded. Leïla Slimani seems to hide under the cover of a popular novel the denunciation of much deeper concerns intrinsically tied to our society; racial and social inequalities.

Myriam is from Moroccan descent and she is the mother of two children. Louise is a white woman who was hired as the nanny of the family. It is not the normative situation in Paris to see a white woman working for a woman of colour. Tensions are therefore pre-installed. Louise feels like she belongs in the middle of expensive Paris and she disowns her background completely. She lives in disadvantaged Parisian suburbs but loves and takes care of higher-class children, when she is repulsed by own daughter who has disappeared. In some way, Louise loves Mila and Adam more than she loves her child because she seems to believe she should be the mother of those predictably successful children in the middle of Paris. It is where she would like to live, and it is the life she would like to lead. But she cannot take Myriam’s place, which leads both characters to evolve in parallel. Her daughter does not exist anymore but in short analepsis, she lives in the apartment when the family is away and wishes she could sleep on the floor, next to the young girl Mila, so that she does not ever have to leave. Louise becomes the fifth member of the family and rejects completely her own background. I think this novel encapsulates very well the prejudices one keeps towards his race or another; as Louise believes that she could legitimately be part of the family she is working for, Myriam is also unsure of her own position as the employer. She adores Louise and is constantly looking for approval, trying to prove that her presence is legitimate in the family she has built herself. Both Louise and Myriam’s mindsets impregnated with racial bias and discrimination are entangled and seem to blur the borders between the employer and the employee.

Sexism is also a major theme is Lullaby. Both Paul and Myriam work hard and come home late because of their rising careers. However, we are pushed to believe that Myriam is more to blame for what happened to her children. She is not more involved than her husband in Louise’s doings. She comes home late as much as he does. Myriam did exactly what her husband did, so why do we blame her? Because she is a mother and she should be animated by maternal feelings; she should have stayed home with her children, or at least she should have realized that the nanny they hired, despite all of her unique qualities, was a psychopath. Slimani highlights the reader’s own bias. She makes us realise that we instinctively blame Myriam for choosing her career over her children, when both parents should bear the same weight.

In conclusion, Leïla Slimani, as well as offering a warning to all parents not to give trust too quickly, denounces the preponderant prejudices anchored in our society. She uses her characters as puppets that we do not manage to empathize with, maybe because of the lack of feelings and emotions described, giving the readers a more naturalistic and scientific approach to the story. This lack of emotions allows the reader to think instead of feel. Slimani’s novel, gives us the story of broken people in a broken society, but also frightens the reader by describing a normal woman who, throughout her existence, was shaped by different experiences leading her lose control of her life and commit a dreadful crime.

By Amélia Damy

This is a blog to record readings and discussions undertaken during the SELCS Summer Book Club; a club that aims to facilitate ongoing discussions about literature and academic community-building between staff and students in SELCS during strange times! We try to alternate modern with classic texts, long and short, and choose books that are either open access or easily and economically obtainable during social isolation. If you would like to join please email Dr Emily Baker: e.baker@ucl.ac.uk