Translating at the Edge of Language: Eroticism, Rebellion, and the Algerian War in Pierre Guyotat's Idiocy
Date and Time
Location
FRANCE AND THE WORLD
SPEAKER: Peter Behrman de Sinéty, École normale supérieure
To mark the U.S. release of Pierre Guyotat’s Idiocy, forthcoming from the New York Review Books and newly translated by Peter Behrman de Sinéty, join us for an evening of readings and conversation exploring the legacy of the radical, experimental French writer.
Published in French in 2018 and awarded the Prix Médicis, Idiocy is a searing autobiographical account of Guyotat’s formative years, his rebellion against familial and military authority, and his imprisonment during the Algerian War. Blending linguistic experimentation with a meditation on state violence, eroticism, and the possibility of artistic resistance, the memoir is both an indictment of colonial domination and the formal culmination of a literary vision that Edmund White once described as belonging to “one of the few geniuses of our day.”
About the Speaker
Peter Behrman de Sinéty grew up in Maine and lives in Paris. He was lecteur d'anglais at the École Normale Supérieure, where he has taught since 2011. His translations include Éric Chevillard's QWERTY Invectives and Maël Renouard’s Fragments of an Infinite Memory.