Nancy Houston. “Men who go to prostitutes all have one thing in common. they pay not to be convicted”

In his new novel. France (1)Nancy Huston tells the story of a Colombian-born prostitute of enormous energy and kindness who works in the Bois de Boulogne. It is the twenty-four hours of the life of a transgender woman, which is manifested by the visits of seventeen clients, including the author. Break lines weaves together voices, concerns and trajectories with his usual brilliance to offer us a hypersensitive x-ray of contemporary French society. Interview:

Madame Figaro: What did you have in mind when you embarked on this project?

Nancy Houston. – I wanted to shed light on the dark side of prostitution. We always talk about a woman’s body, her vulgarity, her insolence, showmanship, when in this matter we are talking only about male sexuality. We only talk about supply, never about demand, even though it is demand that creates prostitution. One can imagine the disappearance of the offer. if women, men, children did not suffer from poverty, they would not resort to sex work; but given the values ​​imposed by patriarchy almost everywhere in the world, it is hard to imagine the disappearance of a demand that is almost exclusively male.

Did you suddenly imagine that your heroine’s day will be marked by an invasion of seventeen customers?

At the beginning of the development of each novel, there is always a very short phase where I receive orders from my personal “demon”, so to speak, from which it is impossible to escape. What about? France, a list of seventeen clients appeared one fine day, suddenly. I did research and envisioned a trajectory, a voice, a life for each. And then I wove the threads… I work on my books like musical compositions, I think about melodic lines, echoes, leitmotifs. Prostitutes always gave me the same answer when I asked who their customers were – everyone. They come from everywhere, belong to all social classes, and among them we meet all ages, all skin colors, all ethnic groups. There are many reasons why they come: a sense of power, a sense of revenge, a sense of control, a sense of dominance, desire, pleasure… but they all have one thing in common: they pay not to be judged.

Was it about painting a kaleidoscopic picture of male desire?

And more broadly, about today’s France – hence the title of the novel. As usual, I scattered pieces of myself here and there. One of the last clients, William, belongs to the world of my first years in Paris, when I evolved into a constellation of devil-tail-pulling foreigners… Even the most violent parts of the novel contain about me. While I’m a feminist who clearly condemns sexual assault and touching, not to mention rape, the fact remains that one of the characters that interested me the most was this man who killed his pregnant wife and was sentenced to eighteen years in prison… Novelists of the 19th century have already told us. if you’re not ready to get inside the head of a killer, there’s no point in starting a manuscript. Literature is about entering taboo lands and bringing light out of darkness.

It’s not the first time you’ve worked on the subject of prostitution…

It is an old and enduring interest. Like many women, I was sexually abused as a child, and the way I protected myself was to look closely at men’s behavior to understand and describe it. At the age of seventeen I was a medical secretary at the Harvard Psychiatric Clinic, and five of the seventeen psychologists there, who were the highest ranked in terms of salary and social prestige, turned me on.” The following year, in New York, impressed by the fact that men all over the world were roaming around looking for anonymous sex, I worked one afternoon myself in a Thai massage parlor, where I made five men cum with my hand; I immediately prepared a new one, “Le Palais du massage” (which remains unpublished at the moment)… 1982. Mosaic of pornography. Marie-Therese and othersauthor of a book titled, dedicated to a prostitute whom I interviewed at length The life of a prostitute. I compared the real life history of prostitutes and the fantasies of men as we can read them in pornography… 1984. In love and war, on the idea of ​​necessary evil. With fellow American historian Sam Kinser, I dissect the many parallels and connections between prostitution and war…

You have studied a lot France ?

As always. Just like I went to Berry to do interviews about witchcraft for sustenance Instruments of Darknessalso, to write France, Between 2021 and 2023 I participated in several campaigns in the Bois de Boulogne. It must be said that the trans people of Bois de Boulogne are a real Parisian institution. one of them, originally from Senegal, appeared in 1974 Life ahead By Romain Gary. I was overwhelmed by the whimsicality, good humor and extreme kindness of the trans Latinos… Then I talked at length with several sex workers, in their homes or cafes… I also attended the trial of the murderers by Vanessa Campos. (trans prostitute killed in 2018, editor’s note), which took place at the Court of Ile-de-la-Cite, then at the Court of Appeal of Creteil. Determining that Francia was from Colombia, I traveled there to explore her hometown of Girardot, as well as some of the “tougher” neighborhoods of Bogotá. It is a land of incredible violence, and yet we find humor, hospitality, kindness

And how would you describe your heroine?

He changes his name and country, like many of my heroes; I have always been interested in exiles, and several of my novels, such as angel footprint exhibit foreigners in Paris. Working on a trans character was new. During the raids, it was mostly trans women that I met and talked to. I must have had a hard time staying under the shoes of a “cis” female prostitute for two years, it would have been very trying. It’s just an impression, but it seems to me that trans people are less “affected” by sexuality in its mechanical and functional aspects, maybe because they were boys. But, of course, they should be vigilant because they are still subjected to all kinds of violence. We know the fantasy of the big-hearted prostitute, the cliché that all prostitutes feel more or less obligated to embody. Francia has a big heart for her family and her friends, whom she tries very hard to protect. She’s this tall, powerful, lame woman, both quixotic and magnificent… I loved being in her shoes.

(1) France, Nancy Huston, ed. Actes Sud, 304 p., €22.