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‘Evokes the voice of J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the perversion of J.G. Ballards’ Crash and the feminist agenda of Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch’.
Combien de fois vais-je me faire avoir par une allusion à Salinger en quatrième de couverture? Seul l’avenir nous le dira…Pourtant cette fois ci, j’étais tout aussi alléchée par les mots : féministe et eunuque. Il m’en faut pas beaucoup tu dis ? Eh bien, j’ai pris en main et reposé le livre sur la pile une bonne dizaine de fois avant de lire la phrase liminaire qui a achevé de me convaincre :
« As far back as I can remember, I’ve had hemorrhoids. »
Alors tu vois, je tiens à te le dire, j’ai jamais eu d’hémorroïdes mais je me suis dit « ah ouais, intéressant ». Et quelques tours de carte bancaire plus tard, j’étais chez moi en train de dévorer ce livre. Ouais franchement, deux jours c’est le maximum qu’on puisse durer tellement c’est captivant. Qui aurait cru que lire les aventures post ablation des hémorroïdes d’une catin de 18 ans me fascinerait autant ? Qui aurait pu dire encore que sa façon de contourner l’industrie américaine du tampon en s’enfilant du papier toilette là où il faut m’aurait fait gentiment sourire? Qui aurait cru encore qu’on pouvait faire des choses aussi intéressantes avec des avocats ? La seule raison pour laquelle ce livre ne te dégoutera pas avant la fin, cher ami puritain, est la qualité de l’écriture. En effet, c’est malin, pointu et vraiment moderne. La seule chose que je sache sur la version française c’est qu’ils en ont parlé dans Elle. Je trouve le fait que mes lectures coïncident avec la rubrique littérature d’Elle assez rare et comique pour en parler. La version originale est en allemand, mais la traduction anglaise est tout à fait respectable. Je vous en donne un petit bout, plutôt soft mais vu qu’un dieu non existant y est invoqué, moi je dis pourquoi pas :
« He’s brought a contract that I’m supposed to sign. It says the operation could result in incontinence. I ask how it could affect my pissing. He grins and says this refers to anal incontinence. Never heard of it. But suddenly I realize what this means: “You mean I might lose control of my sphincter muscles and then I could just crap myself anytime and anyplace and would need a diaper and stink all the time?”
The sandman: “Yes, but that rarely happens. Sign here, please.” I sign it. What else am I supposed to do ? If that’s what it takes to have the surgery. I can’t exactly go home and operate on myself. Oh man. Please, dear nonexistent God, don’t let this happen. I’d be wearing a diaper at age eighteen. You’re not supposed to need those until you’re eighty. It would also mean I’d only have managed to live fourteen years of my life without diapers. And you certainly don’t look cool in them. “Dear anesthesiologist, would it be possible for me to see what they cut away during the operation? I don’t like the idea that a part of me could end up in the trash along with aborted fetuses and appendixes without my being able to picture it. I want to hold it in my hand and examine it.” “If that’s what you want, then sure.” “Thanks.” He sticks a catheter into my arm and secures everything with a surgical tape. This is where they’ll pump in the anesthesia later. He says in a few minutes a nurse will come to take me to surgery. Now the anesthesiologist too leaves me lying in the puddle of moisture from my blister and walks out. The thought of anal incontinence worries me. Dear nonexistent God, if I manage to get out of here without anal incontinence, I’ll stop doing all the things that give me a bad conscience. Like the game I play with my friend Corinna where we run through the city drunk and grab people’s eyeglasses, break them, and then chuck them into the street. We have to run quickly_some people get so pissed off that they come after us really fast even without their glasses. The game is stupid anyway because we always sober up from all the excitement and adrenaline. Big waste of money. Afterward we always have to start from scratch again getting drunk. Actually, I’d like to give that game up anyway_sometimes at night I dream of the faces of the people whose glasses we’ve just plucked off. It’s as if we’ve ripped a body part. I’ll give that one up right now, and I’ll try to come up with a list of some other things. Maybe if it’s absolutely necessary I’ll give up the hookers. That would be a major sacrifice, though. It would be great if giving up the glasses game would suffice."
Tonight I’m thinking about my grandfather. A few weeks ago he told me a story. It’s a story about a good world. My grandparents live in a yellow wooden house they built a long time ago. They have a big garden that they’ve always spent a lot of time on. Flowers and trees and bushes mean a lot to them. They know all the names and when things are supposed to be planted and when they have to be watered and pruned. They often talk about plants and give flowers to friends and family. It’s been that way for as long as I can remember. When they built the house, my grandfather planted an apple tree. At the bottom of the garden. I have never seen that tree. It was gone when I was born. But I’ve heard about it. When the tree had grown for many years, it started to yield apples. A lot of apples. My grandmother used to make juice and preserves from the apples. It was a good apple tree. But then something happened. It had been a good summer and the apples were nice and big. They were about to be picked. But one morning, the tree had been destroyed. Several thick branches were lying on the ground. My grandfather said it looked bad. It would never grow apples again. The tree was going to die. My grandfather went inside to give my grandmother the sad news. Then he took off his work clothes, put on something more appropriate, and went down the lane past the cemetery and down to the college. There he spoke to the principal. The college acted, and after some time three young students came forward. They had been out pinching apples and things had got a little out of control. They had very guilty consciences. It was a prank. Not a big thing, but serious enough. And both my grandfather and the principal were concerned with sorting things out fair and square. A new apple tree cost 150 kroner in those days. It was agreed that the boys should pay for a new tree. It was agreed that the boys should pay for a new tree. They would pay 50 kroner each. My grandfather told me it was a lot of money back then. The boys would pay a weekly sum the rest of that autumn and well into spring, until everything was paid back and they were even. My grandfather had himself been to that college and he knew the boys didn’t have a lot to get by on. They were boarders, some of them were far away from home and their families had already dug deep into their pockets in order to send them to college. They had to take the money for the apple tree out of their allowances. That probably meant any expensive and boyish activities had to be limited considerably. They could hardly buy anything, not go to the cinema, not treat the girls to a soda, pretty much nothing at all. Every Saturday the boys came dejectedly to my grandparents’ door to pay. They said very little. They just held out their hands and dropped the coins into my grandfather’s huge palm. He nodded gravely and confirmed thereby that things were going the way they should. It went on that way. Winter came and went, and then spring. In May the garden was once again in bloom and the polytechnic was about to go on vacation. The boys were going home for summer. When they came by for the last time, they were all dressed up. It was something of an occasion for them. They rang the doorbell and my grandmother invited them in. She had made coffee and waffles. The boys were served and they made the last payment and shook my grandparents’ hands. The case was closed. The boys were relieved. They cheered up, and for the first time they talked with my grandparents. They told them about school and summer. They told them where they came from. Their faces were happy. The debt was paid. They were cleansed and could finally hold their heads high. After a while the boys got up to leave. Goodbyes were said, and they walked towards the door. Then my grandfather got up. Hang on, he said, there was one more thing. And the boys stopped. My grandfather crossed the floor. He went over to the big kitchen dresser and opened it. He stuck his hand deep inside it and came out with three envelopes. Then he walked over to the boys and gave one to each of them. The boys couldn’t quite understand. They looked at each other. Then they opened the envelopes and tears started running down their cheeks. My grandfather had given them their money back. […] I’m thinking about the boys. They’re grown-ups today. Probably over fifty years old. They must have had thee feeling that the world was good. That things fitted together. That something meant something. I wonder what they are doing now. They probably have families themselves, and gardens with apple trees. My grandfather is a really good guy. I wonder whether I am a really good guy. I wonder whether there are any really good guys at all in my generation.