Uma suma humana, de Makenzy Orcel: Un sacré livre

Abstract

Une somme humaine (Payot & Rivages, 2022) by Makenzy Orcel is an uncomfortable book. Firstly, because of its theme: it is the story of a woman from the French countryside, raped by her uncle at the age of thirteen (or fourteen)1, who, after going to Paris to try to be happy, experiencing many things, including a hypertoxic relationship, ends up committing suicide, throwing herself in front of the subway. Secondly, because of its “form”: a kind of “posthumous memoir”, since the narrator presents herself as already dead from the beginning of the narrative, the book is written in a continuous flow, without full stops, in an exuberant language that runs through all registers, from the lowest to the highest, with long and tortuous sentences that often challenge the reader's ability to understand. Thirdly, because its author was recently accused of rape. In this article, we will talk about the author, the book, the Choix Goncourt Brésil (Uma suma humana was one of the four finalists for the Prix Goncourt 2022 and the winner of the Choix Goncourt Brésil 2023), the process of translating and publishing the novel in Brazil, and the consequences of the aforementioned accusation.