SCHOOL FOR GIRLS - Portrait of a Generation of Women

  • The sparkling portrait of a generation of women: personal, reflective and hopeful.
  • “We are modest violets lying low in the moss, but never roses proud of their splendour. Such are the attributes we are given, and we take them with us as we set out, down the tempestuous river of life."
  • The portrait of her grandmothers, Marthe and Mathilde, sold almost 150,000 copies!

translated by: Lis Künzli

The story of twelve women and so many more. Personal, considerate, and full of hope.

Twelve girls. They all write their bit in Pascale Hugues’ 1968 poetry album. The adjectives they use in their poems are “little”, “sweet”, “modest”. Never “proud”, “courageous”, “ambitious”. Those are attributes reserved for men. Fifty years later, Pascale Hugues sets out to find these girls. She tells the story of their lives as women and paints the portrait of a generation. Too young for the 1968 revolution, they have access to contraceptives, abortion, consensual divorce, the right to wear trousers to the office and receive a salary, without asking for their husbands’ permission – all those gains that previous generations fought for. Each one of them tried to escape the image of women that is so clearly reflected in the poetry album. But they all feel that these consigned roles continue to influence their lives to this day. Pascale Hugues offers a superbly elegant reflection on how the attributes inscribed in her poetry album have accompanied these women throughout their lives.

 

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  • Publisher: Rowohlt Hardcover
  • Translated by: Lis Künzli
  • Release: 14.09.2021
  • ISBN: 978-3-498-00271-8
  • 304 Pages
  • Author: Pascale Hugues

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Buchcover von SCHOOL FOR GIRLS - Portrait of a Generation of Women: Porträt einer Frauengeneration
Pascale Hugues SCHOOL FOR GIRLS - Portrait of a Generation of Women
Portrait von Pascale Hugues
© Dagmar Morath
Pascale Hugues

Pascale Hugues , born in Strasburg in 1959, she has worked as a German correspondent since 1989, at first for Libération, then for Le Point . She also writes for the Tagesspiegel and the Süddeutsche Zeitung . She has also made two films for the ARTE arts and culture TV station, and lives in Berlin with her family. Her books Marthe und Mathilde , In den Vorgärten blüht Voltaire and Mädchenschule were published by Rowohlt.