History of Violence

French author Louis burst onto the literary scene in 2014 with his debut novel, The End of Eddy, an autobiographical work that captures the struggle of both working-class life in France and the author's own sexual awakening. Here, in his second novel, the author pens an autobiographical work about a traumatic sexual assault he experienced in 2012. The structure encloses the narrative of rape within time shifts between present observation and past memory. Moving back and forth in time as the narrator attempts simultaneously to conjure and vanquish the images of that day, the language flows like stream of consciousness and oscillates among fear, shame, and frenetic anxiety. From the clinical and cold medical examination to the racially insensitive police report, our protagonist is ensnared in dominant societal expectations and culturally situated roles of victimhood. A brief sojourn into his abuser's head, rife with anger and temporary bouts of sympathy, ultimately form the journey of his consciousness to distance itself from his own body.