Burqa of Skin - Softcover

Arcan Nelly

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1772140015 ISBN 13: 9781772140019

Publisher: Anvil Press, 2014

Synopsis

Burqa of Skin is a dense collection of writings channelling harrowing disenchantment and indignation. From her very first novel, Putain (Seuil, 2001), Nelly Arcan shook the literary landscape with her flamboyant lyricism and her preoccupations with such recurring themes as our culture's vertiginous obsession with youth, and its reverse: the draw of death.&nbspNow beyond the ripples of scandal Arcan's work has caused, here are the last echoes of her work, and it is as stunning as it is brief. Burqa of Skin, with its gruesome title, catapults her work into contemporary debates on culture and gender. The book collects three previously unpublished works: "The Dress," "The Child in the Mirror" and "Shame." The first two are written in the first person, in that turbulent, suffocating language that was Arcan's singular brand, that of a writer on the edge. In the third text, she analyses with inexhaustible ferocity her humiliating experience on the set of a TV talk show. Two lesser-known non-fiction pieces are also included in this collection: a reflection on speed dating and a column published in 2004 titled "Suicide Can Be Harmful to Your Health."

About this title

About the Author

Nelly Arcan was born in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Her first novel Putain enjoyed immediate critical and media success. It was a finalist for both the Prix Medicis and the Prix Femina, two of France's most prestigious literary awards. Three more novels followed establishing her as a literary star in Quebec and France: Folle (also nominated for the Prix Femina), A ciel ouvert, and L'enfant dans le miroir. Paradis, clef en main, her fourth novel, was completed just days before she committed suicide in 2009 at the age of thirty-six.

Edition details

• Publisher: Anvil Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1772140015
• ISBN 13: 9781772140019
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160