Martine de Rabaudy's 'Électrochocs' Memoir Published by Flammarion

Flammarion has published 'Électrochocs', a memoir by Martine de Rabaudy that recounts her childhood with a mother suffering from manic-depressive psychosis treated with electroshock therapy. The narrative opens with the author's early familiarity with psychiatric drugs like Librium, Valium, Largactil, and Dogmatil. De Rabaudy's writing is precise and unflinching, yet laced with humor born from temporal distance. She draws parallels between her experience and that of famous figures such as Virginia Woolf, Louis Althusser, and Winston Churchill, who also suffered from similar conditions. The memoir explores her friendships, notably with Nathalie Sarraute. The author frames her escape from childhood as emerging from a war, and the book concludes with a celebration of life and liberation from the past. The review was written by Amandine Lefèvre for artpress.