How do you prove your innocence when you are convinced that you have done nothing wrong, but others have condemned you in advance? Two Innocents, the new novel by Frenchwoman Alice Ferney, immerses us in a human drama of poignant intensity – and all the more disturbing because it is inspired by a true story.
It is a revolting novel. Who stirs. Who takes to the guts as it is impossible to remain impassive in the face of the fate reserved for this woman who finds herself a victim of her kindness, her sincerity – some would even say her naivety.
“Everything I say is true; there is absolutely nothing invented. When it was told to me, the story was not over at all, so I followed it and had continuous news of what was happening, ”explains Alice Ferney, joined by videoconference in Paris.
Claire, the main character, is a teacher in an institution for young people living with disabilities. In September 2018, she welcomed a new student, Gabriel. Very quickly, the situation takes a dangerous turn. And for the first time, the writer admits having chosen to write in the present, “so that the reader is on the same level in the matter”.
To fully understand the context of the affair, it is necessary to know that at the time of Claire’s descent into hell, France is in the midst of a scandal surrounding the affair of Cardinal Barbarin, accused of not having denounced the sexual assaults committed by a priest; precisely one year after the birth of the movement
At all times, however, the writer was careful to spare the various parties.
“I said to myself: ‘I have to tell this story by being as absent as possible and I will make the reader witness to what is happening.’ The reader will enter the classroom, he will see how the course is going. All of a sudden he will see that there is an accusation and I will tell him everything that is happening and how it is interpreted. And at the end, I will say to him, “What do you think?” »
In this Greek tragedy-like drama, which essentially revolves around a trio of women – the teacher, the student’s mother and the school principal – and which makes us reflect on the place of affection in education, there is at the source a misunderstanding around the words, a diversion of the meaning of the words which leads to “presumed guilt”, believes Alice Ferney.
“Suspicion, already, destroys innocence; the other looks at you as a culprit. And there, everyone gears up, everyone follows [Gabriel’s] mother. Then, a first investigating judge “who is doing her job badly” precipitates the sequence of events.
Alice Ferney also says she is very sensitive to injustice, and even more at this time when justice is restored. So is his role as a writer, in a way, to give a voice to those who don’t have one – and in the specific case of Two Innocents, to the one who couldn’t be heard?
“I really like this idea. Faulkner said it, many authors have said it… Writing is still something extraordinary; it is both an act of power and power because it is still the one who tells the story who owns it, who imposes his vision. This is why, moreover, it can be violent when you tell the story of another. It was the famous phrase of Georges Bataille: “Writing the story of another is a transgression that must be assumed”, she concludes.
