Christine Angot's 'Une semaine de vacances' confronts the invisibility of incest

In her novel 'Une semaine de vacances' (Flammarion), Christine Angot takes on Marguerite Duras's assertion that incest is invisible, pushing her writing to extreme limits. The story begins with a couple engaging in sexual acts, gradually revealing that the man is the father of the young girl, who calls him 'papa.' Set during a week in 1975 in Isère, France, the narrative accumulates clinical descriptions of sex in various locations—a car, a parking lot, an church—creating a sense of execution. Angot's use of pronouns ('il' and 'elle') and precise choreography of bodies exposes the crime in its banal, repetitive process. Critic Michaël Ferrier argues that the word 'incest' is insufficient to describe the book, as Angot breaks social codes that dictate how incest should be discussed, refusing the easy distinction between perpetrator and victim, and rejecting the narrative of confession and redemption. Her subversion lies in showing what society formally condemns yet practices daily. The title echoes childhood literature (Pagnol, Comtesse de Ségur, Jules Verne), turning 'vacances' into a moral void. Angot's prose is described as coherent, forceful, intelligent, and effective in opening an unbearable space of truth.