''I Who Have Never Known Men'', originally published in French as ''Moi qui n'ai pas connu les hommes'', is a 1995

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novel by Belgian author

Jacqueline Harpman Jacqueline Harpman (5 July 1929 – 24 May 2012) was a Belgian writer who wrote in French. She was born on 5 July 1929, in Etterbeek, Belgium, and was later well known for her books written in French. Her father being a Dutch-born Jew, Harpman ...

. It is the first of Harpman's novels to be translated into English. It was originally published by

Seven Stories Press Seven Stories Press is an independent American publishing company. Based in New York City, the company was founded by Dan Simon in 1995, after establishing Four Walls Eight Windows in 1984 as an imprint at Writers and Readers, and then incorpora ...

, under the title ''Mistress of Silence'' in 1997, then republished by Avon Eos.

Synopsis

Thirty-nine women and a girl are being held prisoner in a cage underground. The guards are all male, and never speak to them. The girl is the only one of the prisoners who has no memory of the outside world; none of them know why they are being held prisoner, or why there is one child among thirty-nine adults. One day, an alarm sounds, and the guards flee; the prisoners are subsequently able to escape. They find themselves on an immense barren plain, with no other people anywhere, and no clue as to what has happened to the world. The book explores themes of loneliness, sensory deprivation, and survival.

Reception

The book was a finalist for the 1995

Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine '' La Vie heureuse'' (today known as '' Femina''). The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury. They reward French-language works written ...

.Premier round des prix d'automne
by Annie Coppermann; in '' Les Echos''; published November 5, 1996; retrieved October 25, 2020 ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described the novel as "bleak but fascinating", and "about as heavyhearted as fiction can get". ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' compared it to ''

The Handmaid's Tale ''The Handmaid's Tale'' is a futuristic dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood and published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England in a patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state known as the Republic of Gilead, which h ...

'', and said that it is "thin", but "moving" and "powerful".I WHO HAVE NEVER KNOWN MEN, by Jacqueline Harpman
at

; published May 1, 1997; retrieved July 18, 2014 ''

L'Express ''L'Express'' () is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''Réussir''. History ...

'' called it "poignant" and "magnificent", and the product of a "profoundly original imagination". Moi qui n'ai pas connu les hommes
reviewed by Laurence Liban, in ''

''; published October 1, 1995; retrieved October 25, 2020; "Par ce récit poignant d'une quête dont l'objet se dérobe, par la puissance d'une imagination profondément originale, fantastique à sa manière, troublante et terrible", Jacqueline Harpman signe, une fois de plus, une oeuvre magnifique."

References

External links

* 1995 Belgian novels 1995 science fiction novels French-language novels Belgian science fiction novels Seven Stories Press books {{1990s-sf-novel-stub