Sylvie Weil has borrowed from new habits to create an unusual genre: the literary selfie. But she does it in her own inimitable style. This collection of short texts composes a very new variation on a universal genre: the self-portrait.

Sylvie Weil, Selfies, Les Fugitives, 2019.
http://sylvieweil.com/en/




Taking selfies is not the exclusive preserve of millennials.

In Selfies, Sylvie Weil gives a playful twist to the concept of self-representation: taking her cue from self-portraits by women artists, ranging from the 13th c. through the Renaissance to Frida Kahlo and Vivian Maier, Weil has written a memoir in pieces, that is yet unified. Each picture acts as a portal to a significant moment from Weil’s own life and sparks anecdotes tangentially touching on topical issues, from the Palestinian question to the pain of a mother witnessing her son’s psychotic breakdown, to the subtle manifestations of anti-Semitism, to ageism, genetics and a Jewish dog... 

‘A beguiling series of vignettes, by turns wry, amusing and disturbing, inspired by self-portraits by women artists and reflecting on the images they provoke. An illuminating survey of the author’s various identities, in a fractured world, as mother, lover and writer.’ – Michèle Roberts

Me at the organ in a church crypt, me in love with a dog (I don't like dogs), me in an awkward situation in a trendy café in Tokyo, me as a writer, me as a teacher, me finding out that my family isn’t exactly who I thought they were... Adventures and misadventures, pleasure and pain, anything can be an excuse for a selfie nowadays. We take pictures of ourselves from every  angle and we share it with our friends (known or unknown) on social networks. Our era has one eye staring at the mirror, and the ego is clearly dominating the rest. Sylvie Weil already appeared as the narrator in family sagas in her two previous books, Chez les Weil and Le Hareng et le Saxophone. This time, she has borrowed from new habits to create an unusual genre: the literary selfie. But she does it in her own inimitable style. Not necessarily glamorous, and without worrying about making herself look ridiculous or hesitating to poke fun at herself... This collection of short texts composes a very new variation on a universal genre: the self-portrait.
A lively collection of funny and moving snapshots that gradually add up to the portrait of a surprising woman.


‘A beguiling series of vignettes, by turns wry, amusing and disturbing, inspired by self-portraits by women artists and reflecting on the images they provoke. An illuminating survey of the author's various identities, in a fractured world, as mother, lover and writer.’ – Michèle Roberts

‘A new genre is born: the short selfie collection! Lively, inventive, compassionate, aching, morally complex and troubling, I loved these self-portraits more than anything I’ve read lately.’ – Lauren Elkin

'In Selfies Sylvie Weil uses a work of an artist to set the theme for a snapshot of a past episode in her life. These selfies are exquisite vignettes - intelligent, witty, observant, sometimes poignant, and beautifully written - the elegance of the original French apparent in this fine English translation.' – Piers Paul Read 

'If yesteryear's painted self-portraits were as concerned with pose and presentation as are today's phone selfies, Sylvie Weil is the ideal analyst of what may lie behind the image. In a sequence of transpositions of the work of women portraitists from the Renaissance onwards, she applies their appearance to her experience, and implies a continuity in women's self-presentation. Like them, Sylvie Weil has an illustrious heritage (daughter to André a brilliant and renowned mathematician; niece to Simone, a brilliant and renowned philosopher). Unlike them, she moves from the visual to the verbal, expressive of both profound truth and imagination.' – Amanda Hopkinson  

 Taking selfies is not the exclusive preserve of millennials. In Selfies, the niece of French philosopher Simone Weil, also daughter of one of the most brilliant mathematicians of the 20th century, gives a playful twist to the concept of self-representation: taking her cue from self-portraits by women artists, ranging from the 13th century through the Renaissance to Frida Kahlo and Vivian Maier, Weil has written a memoir in pieces, that is yet unified. Each picture acts as a portal to a significant moment from Weil’s own life (as schoolgirl, writer, teacher, daughter and mother) and sparks anecdotes tangentially touching on topical issues (from the Palestinian question to the pain of a mother witnessing her son’s psychotic breakdown, to the subtle manifestations of anti-Semitism, to ageism, racial tensions, genetics…). Switching from poignant to light-hearted in Weil’s trademark irony and self-deprecating humour, Selfies is a sophisticated, ‘delightful read’, with heartbreaking tendencies.

- Cecile Menon

www.galleybeggar.co.uk/indie-picks-2019-part-3

Sylvie Weil has published several collections of short stories, a memoir, and has contributed short fictions to literary magazines. Her writing for young adults has won the prestigious Prix Sorcières in France. Her critically acclaimed memoir At Home with André and Simone (Northwestern University Press, in 2010) was translated and published in several languages. The daughter of André Weil, one of the twentieth century’s most brilliant mathematicians (and a founding member of Bourbaki) and the niece of Simone Weil, one of its most important philosophers. Sylvie was born in the United States but was raised in Paris. She now divides her time between Paris and New York. Her latest title Selfies (2015) will be published by Les Fugitives in the UK in 2019, translated by Ros Schwartz.