" Possédées "
Novel
- Nominated for : The Discovery Grant 2017
In 1632, in the small town of Loudun, mother Jeanne des Anges, superior of the Ursulines convent, was suddenly seized with convulsions and hallucinations. It was soon followed by other sisters and the Church authorities declared them "possessed". Constrained by exorcism, the demons living in their bodies soon appointed their master: Urbain Grandier, the parish priest of the city.
The case of Loudun's possessed, mixing the energies of desire and political calculations, religious intrigues and judicial conspiracies, inspired filmmakers and essayists. Frédéric Gros makes it the novel of a man: Urbain Grandier, a brilliant servant of the Church, a rebellious humanist, in love with women, an atonement figure found in the Counter-Reformation. A tale of collective possession, the text is astonishing in its modernity, as yesterday's fanaticism resembles that of today. »
Presentation of the editor.