The Department of French presents a book talk.
Neige Sinno and French Department Professor Morgane Cadieu will discuss Sad Tiger.
Recently translated into English by Natasha Lehrer and published in the U.S. by Seven Stories, Sad Tiger is a powerful and deeply personal work that confronts the taboo of incest through both Sinno’s testimony and literary exploration.
“Reading Sad Tiger is like descending into an abyss with your eyes open. It forces you to see, to really see, what it means to be a child abused by an adult, for years. Everyone should read it. Especially teenagers.”
— Annie Ernaux
Blending personal memory, literary analysis, and documentary evidence, Sinno constructs a fragmented yet deeply revealing narrative. She examines not only her own recollections but also those of her mother and her abusive stepfather, exploring the intersection of trauma, memory, and literature. Her account is interwoven with close readings of works by Vladimir Nabokov, Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, Christine Angot, Virginie Despentes, and others.