Chantal Thomas. “Swimming is not a competition. you swim for yourself, establishing a sensual relationship with the water”

Back In the water’s lap (1), a collection of interviews with Fabrice Lardreau, which can be read as an extension of his swimming logChantal Thomas, just reprinted in Points Seuil, reiterates with grace and erudition how essential the water, the sand, the beach are to her. Author: From fan to dome – which brings together all the speeches given during the two ceremonies that seal her entry into the French Academy, takes the opportunity to offer a reading of the condition of women in the light of a figure long denied any form of representation in art; swimmer Interview:

In the video, Super-8 years By Annie Erno and David Erno, excerpt

Madame Figaro.-Are you making a connection between? In the water’s lap and yours swimming logwhich appears in the pocket.

Chantal Thomas. I liked being able to dig in In the water’s lap the topics covered in brief swimming log, which consists of immediate ratings at the end of each swim. Water is important to me. It is very difficult for me to live away from water and every time I see it, I feel an irresistible desire to immerse myself in it. So when I was flying over the Aran Islands in Ireland recently, I saw water of stunning turquoise green clarity and immediately wanted to get in there. I see water as a surface, but a surface that calls out to me. I feel a special kinship with this element, which gives me strength.

And what about the sand?

When I put my foot back on the ground after swimming, I walk on wet sand. And enjoying the feeling of how it sinks and forms on the foot, I have an imaginary memory of the first step. It reactivates me; I feel the happiness and surprise of the beginning. For me, water and sand are not repeated. these elusive elements return in new colors to give new sensations. It is the opposite of a romantic vision…

Which one is fatal?

It works. I quote In the water’s lap Bachelard’s text about the drowned and endlessly floating Ophelia. she is the unconscious image of the femme fatale, with her long hair like the seaweed that surrounds you… In fact, in the male imagination, two figures echo each other; and Woman in the Bath, 18th and 19th centuries, with Bonnard’s bathers’ acme, which represents his wife indefinitely, no longer at sea, but in the bath. Only the image of a swimmer does not inspire any representation, both in painting and in literature. Perhaps because the water near the swimmer is still, like a mirror, when the swimmer breaks the mirror.

You mention that it participates in women’s emancipation for you. In what?

My grandmothers, who both came to live in Arcachon, could put their feet in water, but they couldn’t swim; learning to swim was impossible. Meanwhile, my mother, born in 1919, who had learned to swim in the pool, could do crawling competitions. In the tradition of the women in my family, this is a real break, and also an example. It always bothered me that my maternal grandmother had no more education than learning to swim. We wanted to confine the lives of these lively and intelligent women to the confines of the home… Swimming and defending a thesis gives me a sense of achievement, not in a triumphant sense, but as an opener of horizons, allowing me to travel the world and meet people who in turn will multiply opportunities.

He who swims is engaged in sports, an activity long considered masculine…

Indeed, and there is also a long tradition that makes water a dangerous element. Cities were built against water from which an invader might come, and believed to be injurious to health, carrying harmful germs; Marie-Antoinette was accused of washing too much. The swimmer appears well after the “invention” of swimming as a sport by the English, only at the end of the 19th century. And women are only allowed to enter the water at that time if they are sick. The first beaches were in Normandy, where women thought to be suffering from hysteria or nervous illness were immersed in icy water, a bit like being electrocuted. We are far away from the physical…

Then the first English swimmers swam naked. Doesn’t the swimmer break an additional taboo by undressing?

Yes, she is a challenge to women’s ancestors in many ways. its body becomes stronger, it is no longer devoted to reproduction and confined to the house, and it is naked. We must also distinguish swimming, where we follow our wake, choosing the direction we want, from swimming, which we practice in the pool, along the corridors, in training, imagining the performance. Swimming is not in competition. you swim for yourself, not knowing if you did better or worse than yesterday, establishing a sensual relationship with the water, enjoying looking at the sky and the shore, being “on the edge”. from”. We feel a kind of enthusiasm for the moment we are given, where we feel a benevolent freshness and lightening of our weight and essence.

Your connections with water reappear in your magnificent portrait by Dani Laferriere in response to your acceptance speech at the French Academy; two texts that can be found here. From the Fan to La Coupole. What did you like best about his portrait?

His idea of ​​comparing me to Alice, the heroineAlice in Wonderland By Lewis Carroll. I loved how she hooked me with her graceful naturalness, almost like a little girl asking questions about the world without getting answers because my mother was distracted and my father was silent. Then he has this wonderful reflection, after which one learns to ask questions And to give the answers, that is, to become a writer.

(1) In the Arms of Water, Chantal Thomas Interviews with Fabrice Lardreau, ed. Arto, 172 pages, 13 euros.