JEANNE by Arielle Burgdorf is a short novel that packs a huge punch. Spanning the course of a romantic relationship over a number of years – from its sparky beginnings to its twisted end – the book also dives into questions of identity, language and self-love.
Jean is a translator of French and Russian, and also the wife of difficult poet Konstantin. When the novel opens, Jean has been invited to Montréal by a mysterious stranger to discuss a translation job. She seizes the opportunity to get away from a marriage that has become oppressive, and to refind her voice, her body and her self away from the overbearing presence of her husband. What follows is a heady swirl of sex, music and poetry that might just be her redemption.
I enjoyed Arielle Burgdorf’s pinpoint-precise writing and incisive eye for characterisation. Burgdorf, like their protagonist, is a translator from French, and Jeanne is a new edition of their novella Prétend, published in 2024. It will come as no surprise, then, that language is a central theme of the book, and Burgdorf’s deep understanding of the issues language can create around identity and belonging really shines through. For example, Jean is often made to feel inadequate because she speaks French Canadian, which European French characters turn up their noses at for not being ‘real French’. She also grapples with philosophical questions around the process of translation – is the translator an artist themselves, or should they disappear into the background, like she has in her marriage?
Burgdorf also closely ties language to questions of identity and gender. At different points in her life Jean takes on different names – Jeanne, Joanie, Jana, John. The latter causes the biggest stir, but John is steadfast in the face of it: ‘She lived her whole life in-between, gender being just one of many examples.’ This renaming allows her to take on different personalities and gender identities, to open up new possibilities for herself, to translate herself by changing her name. Burgdorf is skilled at combining philosophy with storytelling, so her characters think deeply and still breathe on the page.
This is a Tardis of a book – bigger on the inside than the outside. Its 250 pages contain the detailed anatomy of a marriage and the expansive self-exploration of an unsettled and searching woman. Jeanne explores gender, sex, queerness, love, identity, art, feminism and language in a story that spans years and continents, and yet remains pacy and compelling throughout. I’m going to be thinking about Jeanne for a while – the story and the woman. Once you’ve read it, I think you will too.
JEANNE is out 31st May via Moist Books and available to pre-order now.
Review by Clare Diston
