Linda Le is currently one of the leading female writers in France with the works Les évangiles du crime (The Gospel of Crime), Calomnies (Slander), Les trois Parques (The Three Goddesses of Fate), Voix (Voices).
Her most recent work is À l’enfant que je n’aurai pas (To the child I will not give birth to – Nil Publishing House, Les affranchis bookshelf, 2011) which was awarded the Renaudot Poche award (Renaudot award for abandoned books).
Cao Viet Dung (CVD): For me, To the Child I Will Not Give Birth contains many characteristics of a `novel by letter` (roman épistolaire), which has a strong mark in the history of French literature, but
This letter can be read as a work of fiction, although I have given the narrator some of my personality.
Her book has a really awkward topic.
For many years, I have pondered the issue of not having children.
This is a project that has been on my mind for a long time, because I often talk about fathers, or the relationship between mothers and sons, then maybe it’s time to talk about why I avoid having children.
Do you think Sending a Child I Won’t Have is a fake letter to tell the truth?
Yes, insofar as the author, by revealing deep secrets, perhaps says more to himself than to the child who will never be born.
The key element in her refusal to give birth is more of a philosophical side.
In your opinion, which suffering is greater: giving birth to a child who cannot live or refusing to give birth to a child?
I think the woman who refuses to have children doesn’t live in pain, or anyway, that’s not the kind of love the narrator feels.
Does this letter have the potential to calm the narrator’s confusion?
In my opinion, writing is not really a relief, sometimes it even aggravates the questioning further.
What could a child mean to a writer so obsessed with writing?
Can a child be an obstacle?
“The birth of a literary work is not equivalent to the blooming of a life within” (p. 45).
In my letter there was a long paragraph about the letter’s author refusing to compare writing to pregnancy.
Can I ask about your upcoming project?
Next September, I will publish a novel called Lame de fond (Undercurrent at the bottom of the sea).