Marie Ndiaye’s Discombobulated Subject

With the publication of six novels, Marie Ndiaye has established herself as one of the most talented writers in the cohort of new authors who have contributed to the revival of the French novel in the last twenty-five years. Critical acclaim for the author of Comédie classique (1987), La femme changée en bûche (1989), Un temps de saison (1994), La sorcière (1996), En famille (1991) and Rosie Carpe (2001) is consistently laudatory. What critics usually praise is the singularity of Ndiaye’s fictions, which combine a thematic engagement with social issues and an extraordinary talent for storytelling.