Clara Schulmann

Translated from the French by Naima Rashid, Natasha Lehrer, Lauren Elkin, Ruth Diver, Jessica Spivey, Jennifer Higgins, Clem Clement and Sophie Lewis.

Published: 8 March 2023

This book ships to North America. Please choose the ‘International Tracked Royal Mail Zone 1’ option at checkout.

As she tries to collect them for an essay she is planning to write, other women’s words begin interfering in Clara Schulmann’s life — heard on the radio, in podcasts, songs, and films; words of novelists, feminist intellectuals, friends or strangers overheard in the street. They invade her psyche, reshaping the essay that she once had in mind into a picaresque adventure which investigates the fault lines around women’s voices: and in particular those moments of overflow and excess where wayward words take seed.

Chicanes heralds a new French feminism through a meticulously orchestrated chorus of the wildest female voices, from figures in the history of feminist writing to the stranger on the street, blurring the boundaries between body and art; personal and political. A poly-translation, by eight female translators, from established to emerging, Chicanes brings the individual voice of each translator into subtle relief.

‘This is a book to treasure and love.’ — Deborah Levy

‘In this beautiful and original book, Clara Schulmann has assembled a dazzling ‘cacophony’, varying in rhythm, rapidity, hesitation and flow, from a wide range of fascinating and unexpected sources. Chicanes captures the sounds of women’s emotions; the perfectly expressed, the overflow of excess and the lapse into silence. Schulmann’s own voice is a vivid presence, inspiring readers, as they discover the words of other women who enliven her pages, to summon up their own treasured voices.’ — Laura Mulvey

Paperback with lilac endpapers
198 x 129mm, 210 pages
ISBN 978-1-7397783-2-3

Two or more items at full price in your basket?
Add a note at check out for your free copy of Detour/Détours.

NB: For orders to the EU, please contact us about your local retailers, or order through an alternative UK online retailer.