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Inès Cagnati

イネス・カニャティ

Ines Cagnati

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1937-02-21 （Monclar-d'Agénais, Lot-et-Garonne, France）
Died
2007-10-09 （Orsay, Essonne, France） age 70
Nationality
Italian, French
Languages
Italian, French
Residence History
Lot-et-Garonne (childhood) → Paris (worked at Lycée Carnot) → Brasília (short residence) → Rural France (country home and literary life)

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Teacher, Translator
Active Years
1970-2007
Affiliations
Lycée Carnot

Education

—
Literature
Degree: Licence (学士相当)
Country: France
Obtained CAPES (secondary-school teaching certification) and worked as a high-school teacher

Awards

Prix Roger-Nimier
1973
Work: Le Jour de congé (Free Day)
Result: 受賞
Prix des Deux Magots
1977
Work: Génie la folle
Result: 受賞
Prix de la Nouvelle de l'Académie française
1990
Work: Les Pipistrelles
Organization: Académie française
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Le Jour de congé (Free Day)

1973 Novel (rural realism)

From the perspective of a child of Italian immigrants, the novel depicts poverty, exclusion and the difficulty of language. The bleached soil of the land, family life and isolation at school are rendered in a spare yet poetic style.

outsider experiencepovertyimmigrationlanguage and communication barrierschildhood
Translations
  • Translated into English by Liesl Schillinger (NYRB Classics, 2019)

Génie la folle

1976 Novel

A novel that sensitively portrays a marginalized woman and the border between madness and sanity. Central themes include loneliness and friction with rural community life.

marginalization of womenlonelinessrural community

Mosé ou le Lézard qui pleurait

1979 Novel

A work containing fable-like and symbolic elements. Inner lives of characters interweave with surrounding nature, portraying melancholy and recollections of loss.

memorylossrelationship with nature

Les Pipistrelles

1989 Short stories

A collection of short stories focusing on outsiderhood, silence, rural life and fragments of childhood. Notable for its concise and restrained prose.

outsiderhoodsilenceruralityfragments of childhood

Bibliography

  • Le Jour de congé (Free Day), 1973
  • Génie la folle, 1976
  • Mosé ou le Lézard qui pleurait, 1979
  • Les Pipistrelles, 1989

Translations of Works

  • Le Jour de congé translated into English by Liesl Schillinger (Free Day, NYRB Classics, 2019)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
concise and restrained prosepoetic imagery and quietnessrural realism
Recurring Motifs
outsider feelingsilencepovertychildhood and school memoriesimmigrant perspective

Legacy

Inès Cagnati is regarded for her sensitive portrayals of immigrant outsiderhood, rural poverty and the barrier of language. Recent English translations have led to renewed international interest, and she is considered an important voice in contemporary French literature.

Quotes

  • "Because clearly I wasn't French. And then I wasn't Italian anymore, either. So I was nothing."
    Source: RTS interview (1989) (1989)
  • "At school, the world tipped over. I understood nothing of what was being said to me, I couldn't even obey. The French world was hostile; they did not want us there."
    Source: Sud-Ouest Dimanche interview (c.1985) (1985)

Trivia

  • Her mother tongue was Italian; she learned French when starting school.
  • She taught French literature at Lycée Carnot in Paris.
  • Won the Prix Roger-Nimier in 1973 for Le Jour de congé.
  • Won the Prix des Deux Magots in 1977 for Génie la folle.
  • Les Pipistrelles (1989) led to the Prix de la Nouvelle de l'Académie française in 1990.
  • An English translation of Le Jour de congé (Free Day) was published by NYRB Classics in 2019, prompting renewed international attention.