For his 18e roman, Cut-out romanceHélène Vignal once again adopts the strategy of circumvention which she masters perfectly to tackle a serious subject around seduction among adolescents by relying on romance.
This literary genre, born in the 1970s, uses classic and conventional modes to tell popular, often impossible love stories, choosing a “happy ending”. Hélène Vignal leaves this type of beaten track and keeps her activist soul. “Yes, I use the codes of romance but it is to do something else with it and to reach other conclusions. »
Cut-out romance tells the story of Paola who discovers an anonymous letter, addressed to her name, on her usual seat in the TER. Four other letters will follow, stuck under his seat. Conflicting feelings will try to calm the fire lit inside her. Between fear, curiosity, desire and anger, Paola wants to discover who is hiding behind these fiery letters.
The “cut-up” technique, invented by the surrealists, is used by its heroine. It consists of cutting words from the original text to produce a new text like an uppercut response to the interlocutor, but it will never reach its conclusion.
Hélène Vignal admits her annoyance when she comes across young girls who are a bit shy about seduction. Why should a young girl wait to be spotted? She questions the stereotypes around this fatality that “one day a prince would come” and helps to lay other foundations for the active participation of adolescent girls in building a true love story.
Cut-out romance is primarily aimed at a teenage audience. He shakes up, he questions, he goes beyond conventions and stereotypes. It is a plea in favor of the rights and possible choices of each adolescent to free themselves from clichés and act in complete freedom.
Hélène Vignal will lead a writing workshop in Vivonne on January 11, 18 and 25 in the morning. She will dedicate her novel “Romance à la découpage” at the La Belle Aventure bookstore on January 18, 2025.
