To put an end to the pressure of a certain ideal of the couple, unique, romantic and above all durable, 15 springs offer 15 intimate and personal reflections to be read between bites of chocolate. An unusual proposal in the bookstores this Tuesday, right on Valentine’s Day.
Posted at 2:00 p.m
Before we continue, a clarification: 15 Short Essays About Love published by Somme tout is not easy reading despite being published in that candy month of February. But on the contrary. It would be very bad to know the leader of the collective, Marilyse Hamelin (to whom we already owe 15 short essays on beauty). Read the subtitle: Small and large reconstruction sites. Well, whoever says reconstruction first says deconstruction. And lots of questions. And this engaging, engaging and fashionable collection does just that.
A word about the authors (mostly female authors) of all ages, orientations and origins, from Mylène Mackay to Ouanessa Younsi via Laura Doyle Péan, Maude Landry and Fabiola Nyrva Aladin. Without forgetting Julien Gravelle, the only and no less worthy representative of the male sex. “I would have been curious to hear from several cisgender straight men,” said Marilyse Hamelin, who we met earlier this week at Café Atomic, a nice neighborhood hangout. “But I got a lot of rejections. It’s very vulnerable […] and I find it terrifying to talk about things about love, things that have always been associated with women…”
Let’s put it this way: “Love is everyone’s business and it’s super important,” she continues in an interview that’s as dynamic as her subject matter and exploding as her treatment. “It can hurt, it affects mental health, there is no more important issue than love! »
The meaning of solidarity
We remember that a few years ago Marilyse Hamelin experienced militant exhaustion. Since then, the feminist has been doing visibly better, even quite well, thanks. “The feminist voice in these two books and this one more than ever has done me a lot of good. This is the answer to my exhaustion, she thinks: this solidarity. I experienced a lot of cohesion in this group work. She also fell in love, we learn in the first chapter. “Yes, and that’s a bonus,” she confirms with a smile, before clarifying, “But it’s not the heart of my life. »
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Marilyse Hamelin, author, editor and leader of the collective 15 short essays on love, published by Somme tout
And that’s sort of the message of the book: Let’s stop overestimating romantic love!
Marilyse Hamelin, author, editor and leader of the collective 15 short essays on love
First of all: self-love. “It sounds simple, but it is the starting point. You really have to talk about that before you talk about the rest,” a point that also appears in many lyrics.
Speaking of lyrics, they cast a very wide net. On the deconstruction side, let’s underscore Raphaëlle Corbeil’s very pedagogical essay on the imbalance of love (to put an end to gender socialization), Mylène Mackay’s denial of toxic love (in the form of a manifesto), and this comes out quite unexpectedly and surely courageous detention by Maude Nepveu-Villeneuve (when “detention freed”, she writes beautifully). On the reconstruction side, some surprises, in particular this declaration of love for the animals, the teachers, the houses, without forgetting the children. Finally to life.
It was to be expected: few lyrics celebrate traditional love here. Except for the last signed Ouanessa Younsi. “It’s a celebration, but really a nuance to Marilyse Hamelin. Apart from the romance. […] And it’s so hopeful! »
Because, at the risk of repeating ourselves, the point of the book isn’t to say that love doesn’t matter, quite the opposite. Instead, do without a specific individual model. “It’s funny, nobody talked about polyamory, I wouldn’t have hated it,” notes the editor. But the idea is to say: everything is possible, everything must be possible. […] It’s not weird to be single, it’s not weird to take out a mortgage with someone other than your romantic partner, it’s not weird to take a shower with your best friend. In short: “Love is more than a couple. »
And to reiterate his previous book (on beauty), which ended up delivering exactly the same message: “It’s okay not to meet the standards”…
The collection 15 short essays on love, directed by Marilyse Hamelin, Somme tout Editions, hits bookstores on February 14th.
15 short essays about love
Led by Marilyse Hamelin
Everything in all editions
152 pages