Why this book is hot, at a glance
👀 voyeurism 💃 exhibitionism 🚬🫦 sexy French women 🍆 phallic objects 😹 humour 🥀 longing 💔 heartbreak 🪞auto-fiction
“What attracts me is absence, missing, death.”
Sophie Calle
French women drink red wine, eat red meat and smoke cigarettes. They speak their minds. They are bewitchingly tousled. They do what North American women are trained not to—most radically, they age. They face death. Is this the je ne sais quoi that makes them so sexy?
Death and sex is nothing new, especially for the French. In the 16th century, they named the brief moment of unconsciousness following orgasm “la petit mort”, which translates to “little death”.
P.S. Don’t overlook the feminine article, “la”, language is no accident and nous aimons female pleasure.
P.P.S. French literary critic Roland Barthes said la petite mort was the feeling one should get when experiencing great literature. This newsletter wishes you beaucoup la petite morts, literary or otherwise.
It’s also possible that existentialism has something to do with it. France’s hottest power couple Simone de Beauvoir and and Jean-Paul Sartre claimed there is no divine plan and no afterlife, arguing our greatest ethical imperative is to create our own life’s meaning. Or, as Canada’s greatest contemporary philosopher once said, YOLO.
In True Stories, Sophie Calle takes on death, loss and break-ups and makes it all quite a bit sexy, as perhaps, only a French woman can. Through a collection of autobiographical text-image pairings, Calle builds an evocative and alluring visual memoir, flirting with truth and make-believe.
Her short stories question how we engage with memory, how we grieve, and how we use analysis to construct identity. As in existentialism, for Calle, the self is defined through story and interpretation.
"Man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world—and defines himself afterwards."
Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism
Understanding the self, understanding the other is ambiguous. It’s also voyeuristic. Consider social media. You’re watching your crush’s stories, curious about what evidence these little clips may reveal about who that person is, or how they feel about you. Calle might say these aren’t true stories you’re telling yourself. But you kinda know that already. She might also say that searching for the truth about another isn’t what’s important—or even possible. Instead, she might instruct you to pay closer attention to the fantasy you’re creating. Forget your crush. What does the story reveal about you?
“What interests her [Calle] most is the seduction and projection involved in knowing another person—how fantasy intervenes in every attempt to see and be seen.”
Lili Owen-Rowlands, The New Yorker
Calle’s work asks if we can ever really know one another. And, is there any such thing as true stories?
If you recently went through a break-up, or a loss; if death makes you horny or you’re just feeling kinda emo these days, True Stories is a short, playfully melodramatic collection. Calle seductively illustrates the pain of everyday moments, intimacy and the unknowability of the self; while fantasizing about romantic otherness, and the blurriness of truth.
Have a crush but not ready to commit?
Calle, Sophie, Take Care of Yourself, 2007 Venice Biennale
R.E.M. “Walk It Back” music video, directed by Calle
Calle, Sophie, “On The Hunt”, Wallpaper Magazine, 2020
Calle, Sophie, “No Sex Last Night”, Film
“The Fertile Mind of Sophie Calle”, New York Times Style Magazine
This newsletter aims to please
When I exchange a book with you, I’m definitely flirting—inviting you to take an intimate peek into the stories that shape my mind.
I want you to flirt too. I hope you read and continue to share the books I recommend here, whether that’s to heat up a book exchange with your current flame, spice things up with your long-term lover(s), or explore ideas to arouse your own intellect.
Prepare to fantasize about new worlds, dominate conversations with your never-ending search for wisdom and submit to the awe-inspiring magic of literature.