news | Tuesday September 27, 2022

Medusa is Here!

We’re glad to announce the arrival of Medusa by Martine Desjardins and translated by Oana Avasilichioaei. A modern work inspired by the infamous figure from Greek mythology, Medusa is a gritty exploration of patriarchal control and the suppression of a young woman’s incomprehensible power.

When her hideous gaze deemed a danger to her family and to all around her, Medusa is shipped off to the Athenaeum, an institute for “malformed” girls. The Athenaeum is a place best fled, where benefactors play cruel games with their protégées, but escape is hindered by a watchful headmistress and a lake infested with venomous jellyfish. During her time locked away, Medusa begins to understand the true depth and nature of her sickening ocular power, and grows determined to regain all that has been taken from her.

Read an excerpt from Medusa below:

“I had plenty of time to self-flagellate with these rebukes, since the headmistress made me languish in the entrance hall. On all fours, I crawled around aimlessly on the basalt flagstones, indifferent to the punishment that awaited me, certain that I deserved the worst treatment.

In this regard, the headmistress didn’t disappoint me. She returned with a bucket, setting it down before me so I could see what was inside: a grey, gelatinous mass entangled with threads too numerous to count.

“You resisted the brambles, nettles, thistles, and processionary cocoons. Let’s see how you tolerate what I fished out of our lake for you …”

She slipped on her falconry glove and plunged her hand into the bucket.”

Medusa is biting and imaginative examination of real nature of monstrosity. Pick up your copy here.