I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, Translated by Ros Schwartz (1997) “Look at us, look at how we live. We have been deprived of everything that made us human, but we organized ourselves, I suppose in order to survive, or because, when you’re human, you can’t help it.” Forty women are trapped in a cage, in an underground bunker, being constantly watched by male guards. The women are forbidden to touch or to leave, and the guards do not acknowledge them beyond pulling out a whip to sting them should they deviate from any of the rules of their captivity. Their toilets are without privacy and their clothes have become tattered shreds after years of life in the cage, but the reason for this confinement remains a mystery. Not one woman knows why she is being punished, only that the sole escape from this life is through natural death, as suicide is also strictly forbidden. The youngest of the group, only referred to as “the child,” has no memory By Hana Zittel of a life before the cage. We know she is narrating this tale as an older woman, but her story begins when she is already in captivity, a young girl who remembers no other way of life, surrounded by these older women who refuse to tell her of their lives before the cage. She assumes she is around the age of beginning puberty, but without the sun or moon, they have no way to tell time or to understand how many years have passed. Her mind grows restless in this monotony and meaninglessness, and she begins to tell herself sexual fantasies about one of the young guards to pass the time, stirring up excited feelings she has never experienced. She starts to confide in another woman, a former nurse, who teaches her the rhythm of the heart. The child then begins to develop a system of telling time in relation to the comings and goings of the guards, establishing that time may be different here than the other women knew before the bunker. On an ordinary day during their inexplicable imprisonment, the guards open up the hatch to give them food rations when a “major event” suddenly changes their fate. A blaring siren goes off just as a guard has entered his key into the lock. The guards look at each other and take off, leaving the key in the door, allowing the women to open the hatch, escape, and attempt to discover the meaning behind their incarceration and what became of the world they knew. I Who Have Never Known Men was originally published in 1995 and translated to English from the original French in 1997. Due to recent reprintings, this poignant, post-apocalyptic novel has seen a spike in popularity in recent years. Ros Schwartz updated their original translation in 2019 for the UK rerelease and in 2022, the updated US version was released with an introduction from author Carmen Maria Machado. These reissues resulted in a surge of new readers finding this mysterious take on feminist science fiction, uniquely marked with loneliness and absurdity, ever relevant. Mothballs by Sole Otero, Translated by Andrea Rosenberg (2023) Sole Otero’s 2024 graphic novel opens on a funeral in San Martín, Argentina. When 19-year-old Rocío’s grandmother, Vilma, passes away, she notices the minimal number of mourners that have come to pay their respects. “That funeral could have fit into an elevator,” she writes. The family home now vacant, Rocío gets to stay in Vilma’s former home rent free and, her parents hope, attend school. As she settles into the large space filled with memories and mementos, she tells the story of her grandmother’s life as it has been told to her. A child of Italian immigrants who moved to Argentina because of political persecution, Vilma grew up in a repressed time with a father who drank, a mother who wouldn’t cross him, and a brother who struggled to fit in despite Vilma’s love for him. Through this retelling of the past, Rocío reveals Vilma’s life as one of a woman who lived through periods of traumas and perceived abandonment. She expressed her pain by isolating or cutting off her family and friends, unable to grapple with conflicts or rejection. As she tells Vilma’s story, Rocío internalizes the missteps of her grandmother allowing her to confront her present, what she wants from life, and attempt to approach her own relationships with love and healthy conflict resolution. Captivating and colorfully illustrated, Mothballs is a beautiful reflection on breaking familial trauma and forging your path in the world. No. 144
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