Nathalie Azoulai, one is a mathematician, the other is a writer

Audio 29:00

The writer Nathalie Azoulai in the studio at RFI (January 2022).

© Catherine Fruchon-Toussaint/RFI

By: Catherine Fruchon-Toussaint

2 mins

Nathalie Azoulai was born in the Paris region.

A graduate of the École Normale Supérieure and agrégation in Letters, she is a writer, and author of several novels including

, Prix Médicis in 2015. Her new novel is called

 (POL).

Advertising

The Perfect Girl © POL

"When, one fine morning in June, Rachel learns that Adèle, her lifelong friend, has hanged herself at home, she feels both stunned and lightened. A reaction in the image of this tumultuous friendship which has always provoked in her a mixture of fusion and deep unease. From this ambivalence, Rachel leads the investigation and wonders what could have led a girl as perfect as Adèle, brilliant mathematician and mother of a young boy , to suppress himself so violently at 46 years old.

She returns to the birth, the stages and the adventures of their history by constantly stumbling on what founded it, a tacit oath from high school, a crucial deal: in the land of Knowledge, Adèle will take the Sciences, and Rachel the Letters.

Did they aim to cover the whole spectrum?

But of what ?

Knowledge, social success?

To put it another way: why does Adèle choose math, the "boys' way", when Rachel has always chosen literature, the "girls' way"?

But is that really how things are in life?

Until what point ?

Through this long-term friendship, it is a two-headed learning novel that unfolds, where school orientation determines much more than a course by shaping intelligence and an entire existence, family and romantic relationships. , motherhood, ambition and the relationship to the world... Especially when you are a woman and you attack the territory of men."

(Presentation of

)

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_EN

• Literature

• France

• Knowledge Science

• Culture

On the same subject

You tell me the news

Nathalie Azoulai, click and slap

Literature without borders

French novelist Nathalie Azoulai

Literary prizes / France

Nathalie Azoulai wins the Prix Médicis with her rooted “Titus”