Coucher du cœur sur le carreau Mère et fils dans ­l’œuvre ­d’Anne Godard et Marie NDiaye

Mon Cœur à l’étroit by Marie NDiaye and L’Inconsolable by Anne Godard are violent novels which offer a singular, disturbing representation of the mother-son relationship. Intertextual networks and metaphorical devices reveal mortifying familial memories, haunted by women who are presented in turn as vampirish and cannibalistic mothers. This shows the extent to which “bloodlines” take on the dark tones of furious, bitter melancholy in these narratives.