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Playboy

'An essential read' - Joelle Taylor, T.S. Eliot Prize-winning author of C+nto
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( 1,869 ratings, 286 reviews)
Brief Description
At the age of forty-three, the narrator abandons her marriage, her apartment, and her successful legal career as a public defender to re-emerge as an out lesbian and a writer. In a series of short, sharp vignettes, the narrator describes her first female lovers—a married woman... Read More
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In this prequel to the critical sensation Love Me Tender, Constance Debre breaks free from conformity to live her life as a butch lesbian

In this prequel to the critical sensation Love Me Tender, Constance Debré breaks free from conformity to live her life as a butch lesbian

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

At the age of forty-three, the narrator abandons her marriage, her apartment, and her successful legal career as a public defender to re-emerge as an out lesbian and a writer.

In a series of short, sharp vignettes, the narrator describes her first female lovers—a married woman fifteen years older than her, a model ten years her junior—punctuated by encounters with her ex-husband, her father, and her son.

Looking at the world through fresh eyes, she questions everything that once lay beneath the surface of her well-managed life. Unburdened by marital and familial obligations, a new woman emerges, free to examine gender and marriage, selfishness and sacrifice, money and family, even the privilege inherent in her downward mobility.

A compelling chronicle of transgression, Playboy is Constance Debré's unflinching account of new bachelorhood. Laconic, aggressive, and radically truthful, she chronicles the process that made her one of the most important French writers today.

Translated by Holly James.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781800819849

Publisher: Profile Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 23 May 2024

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Tuskar Rock

Edition: Main

Contributors:

  • Translated by Holly James
  • Translated by Holly James

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 18.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 196.0mm

Weight: 160g

Pages: 176

About the Author

Constance Debre is the author of Love Me Tender, which won the Prix Litteraire des Inrockuptibles in 2020 and Playboy, which won the Prix de la Coupole in 2018. Nom, the final title in this autofiction trilogy, is forthcoming from Serpent's Tail and will be translated by Lauren Elkin.

Holly James is a translator, writer and editor. Her translations have been published by Europa Editions and Semiotext(e).

Also by Constance Debré

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  • Offenses
    Debré's voice is Camusian, comic, stark, relentless, and totally hypnotic. — Rachel Kushner Is a criminal born or made? What turns them towards violence? A young man stabs an elderly woman ten times for the sake of a 450 euro debt. But why would he commit such a brutal murder over a petty sum when he has a girlfriend and...
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  • Love Me Tender
    'Destined to become a classic of its kind' - Maggie Nelson 'One of the most compulsive voices I've read in years' - Olivia Laing, Observer When Constance told her ex-husband that she was dating women, he made a string of unfounded accusations that separated her from her young son, Paul. Laurent trained Paul to say he no longer wants to...
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  • Name
    In the world of the bourgeoisie and aristocrats, names are everything. They are currency that cannot be bartered but give their owners access, respect and, above all, protection from the laws that govern those unfortunate souls who belong to classes without names, people who might as well be nameless. To the narrator of Constance Debré's third novel, Name, her name...
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