Since her first literary outing at seventeen with the novel Quant au riche avenir, Marie NDiaye has challenged and beguiled both readers and theatre-goers.
Winner of the Prix-Goncourt and the only living female playwright to have a play (Papa doit manger) included in the Comédie-Française repertoire, neither form nor subject can restrain NDiaye’s brilliance at unravelling our interior lives.
Right now, everyone has their nose in the psychological drama My Heart Hemmed In, the English translation of NDiaye’s 2007 novel Mon cœur a l’etroit, which has just been released.
Granta’s July issue features an excerpt from My Heart Hemmed In, which takes place in a bizarre world where a couple realise they are quietly hated by everyone in their provincial town. One day a mysterious life-threatening wound appears in Ange’s stomach. While his wife Nadia tries to nurse him back to health, more shadows, both real and imagined, from the past and present, encroach on their tenuous new reality—rife with suspicions and dis-ease.
- Read the excerpt of My Heart Hemmed In in Granta
- Efemia Chela is Francophone & Contributing Editor. Follow her on Twitter.
