Rights sold to Germany (Fischer)
Having a body follows the trajectory of a girl growing into a woman, as told from the point of view of her body, in all its modulations.
As a child, she has to conform to the parameters laid down by her parents and by society as a whole, both of whom expect her to be a girl. As a teenager, she is an excited and apprehensive witness to her body’s evolving outline, its incarnation of female sexuality and its first steps towards seduction, inexorably drawn towards boys. Next comes passionate love, irresistible desire and a relationship experienced as delectable pleasure for the senses and consolation for all life’s shortcomings. Motherhood and living with a child are tremendous upheavals that produce a surge of energy but also of self-doubt and anxieties. In addition she has to make room for work, to undergo a transition from the outside to the inside, and to cope with a new kind of formatting in a collective environment. Then the grieving process strips the body naked in this most extreme solitude.
The narrator’s lucid insights are often funny and off-the-wall as she takes us on a journey through life, the adventures of an everyday existence with all its posturing and restraint, its seduction and sexuality, its work responsibilities and motherhood, its exhilarations, bereavements and metamorphoses. A sensitive, intimate novel which reminds us that our minds and our bodies are constantly engaged in a close-knit yet enigmatic dialogue.
Brigitte Giraud was born in Algeria and lives in Lyon. She has had seven books published by Stock, including L’Amour est très surestimé, winner of the 2007 Prix Goncourt for a novella, Une année étrangère (2009) and Pas d’inquiétude (2011), which is currently being adapted for the small screen by France Télévision. She runs the “La forêt” list for éditions Stock.
« Des vêtements à peine écartés, des ventres et des reins maladroitement caressés. Des intentions plus que des actes. On donne, on offre, on laisse à l’autre le soin de prendre, de saisir, de posséder. Mais l’autre est dans le trouble de la conquête, avec le trop-plein de lumière qui éclaire la chambre. Il est difficile d’accéder au secret en plein jour. Alors les yeux se ferment, les doigts s’agrippent et les cuisses s’extraient des pantalons. Il cherche, soulève, accélère. Je veux bien, veux tout, ne résiste pas. »
Avoir un corps est la trajectoire d’une enfant qui devient fille, puis femme, racontée du point de vue du corps, une traversée de l’existence, véritable aventure au quotidien où il est question d’éducation, de pudeur, de séduction, d’équilibre, d’amour, de sensualité, de travail, de maternité, d’ivresse, de deuil et de métamorphoses. L’écriture au réalisme vibrant, sensible et souvent drôle, interroge ce corps qui échappe parfois, qui ravit ou qui trahit. Un roman qui rappelle que la tête et le corps entretiennent un dialogue des plus serrés, des plus énigmatiques