The Figuration of Strangeness in Ndiaye's Three Powerful Women

This book examines how Marie Ndiaye, in Trois femmes puissantes, shapes a universe where space becomes the theater of horror and mystery. Through tension-filled locations, the incest between Sony and her mother-in-law evokes the myth of the Garden of Eden, symbolizing an original fall and a quest for redemption. Norah's journey of initiation to Africa turns into a descent into the underworld, revealing disturbing truths about family identity and relationships. Drawing on Tzvetan Todorov's theory of the fantastically strange, this book reveals how the author blurs the boundaries between the real and the unreal, immersing the reader in an atmosphere of strangeness and disquiet. By exploring these dimensions, it sheds light on the fundamental role of strangeness in the work, and offers an in-depth interpretation of the psychological, symbolic and aesthetic issues at stake in this captivating novel.