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The Argentinian novelist, Agustina Bazterricatakes us with The unworthy in a most interesting dystopia. A novel? Yes, but above all a real dystopia, in the first sense of the term: “ imaginary society governed by a totalitarian power or a harmful ideology » according to the definition of the Larousse dictionary. There are many dystopias in literature. Some not good, barely readable and some extraordinary, just think about 1984 of George Orwell which is surely the absolute masterpiece of the genre.
The author immerses us in an undetermined country, at a time which is suffering the consequences of climate change. Humanity, or what remains of it, has fallen back into survival mode: polluted soils, almost non-existent drinking water, fauna and flora having almost completely disappeared, no more electricity, the level of the oceans has risen so much that regions of the world, like England, have disappeared, human beings who only think about eating, no matter how (from time to time how can we not think of the gangs of skinners of the Middle Ages), it is the law of the strongest, the law of jungle, no more laws, no more morals to manage social relations which have evaporated.
The heroine, an orphan, wandered in this apocalyptic world, accompanied by a cat Circe, until their attack by one of the multiple gangs who sow terror.
She ends up, completely by chance, finding refuge at the Sorority House. It is an old monastery for men where there are only women and only one man: “He”, whom no one ever sees but whose voice they hear which “prophecies”, which humiliates them, which asks for sacrifices for their well, for the good of humanity. The Sisterhood House is a “paradise” that works for renewal, which is protected by the “enlightened ones” that each aspires to become. This place is dominated, run by the Sister Superior, who rules through whipping and punishments that border on torture. A perfect sadist. Here, we pray, but more a concept than a God, certainly not the “ Wrong God, the false son and the unworthy mother “. If any of them refers to past beliefs, they are severely punished. A motto: “ Without faith, no shelter ».
The Sisterhood House is hierarchical: at the bottom the servants, a sort of slave, a negligible quantity, not even perceived as human beings, then the unworthy (of which the heroine is one) who are the most numerous. They live frugally, they are continually asked to make sacrifices, all hope to be chosen to move into a “higher category”: Minor saints with captivating songs (but whose eyelids are sewn), Diaphanous in spirit who listen to the life of nature (but whose tongue is cut) or even Illuminated, those who are no longer seen, locked in a closed place and who have the power of prophecy.
The heroine breaks one of the rules: she writes, she keeps a diary where she writes down her feelings, her past, her aspirations, the tensions, the groups that form within the community, her means of trying to survive in this totalitarian but protective universe in relation to the violence, to the horror that she experienced outside the enclosure. Here at least she can eat (sparingly) and drink.
And Lucia arrives. A luminous young girl who walks on the embers without getting burned, who commands the wasps, who behind a formal submission, violates many rules. A loving bond is forged between them, nature gradually takes back its rights, how can we escape from this prison world, especially when Lucia disappears behind the door where the Illuminated are?
The Sorority House is a closed place where a sect led by a sadistic and perverse couple lives. The members accept what they suffer because the outside is even worse. They have only one possibility, to submit and, despite food deprivation, to aspire to be part of the chosen ones, to stand out from the crowd to have a superior “status” in this oppressive society.
Dystopia on submission, on survival, on the manipulation that reigns within sects. A dystopia not always optimistic about human nature, but with hope in the strength of love and the resilience of nature.
The unworthy
Agustina Bazterrica
Flammarion editions. 21€50
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