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I Who Have Never Known Men
Deep underground, thirty-nine women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only a vague recollection of their lives before.
As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl—the fortieth prisoner—sits alone and outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others' escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.
Jacqueline Harpman was born in Etterbeek, Belgium, in 1929, and fled to Casablanca with her family during WWII. Informed by her background as a psychoanalyst and her youth in exile, I Who Have Never Known Men is a haunting, heartbreaking post-apocalyptic novel of female friendship and intimacy, and the lengths people will go to maintain their humanity in the face of devastation. Back in print for the first time since 1997, Harpman’s modern classic is an important addition to the growing canon of feminist speculative literature.
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Reviews
I was not prepared at all for the direction this book went in. There is a lot to be said about humanity and the philosophy of human purpose from this text—an intriguing and unsettling read.
By colemantori13
acqueline Harpman’s now 30-year-old “I Who Have Never Known Men,” is a genre-bending masterpiece of a novel. It reads like a horror story rooted in patriarchal megalomania with a sci-fi backdrop. A quarter of the way in, you will not be able to put it down. It is profoundly imaginative and fluid in plot, dialogue, and pace. It reminds me of Plato’s allegory of the cave along with contemporary dystopian stories like “Silo” and “Severance.” Which all makes sense because the questions that Harpman raises in this book are deeply philosophical and universal. The questions are made even more compelling by framing them from the perspective of a protagonist with a uniquely nascent worldview. The unnamed protagonist’s experiences ask us to grapple with concepts like how to frame a concept like freedom when we are so bizarrely constrained? We are made to look unflinchingly at a clinical-level of dehumanization that is not without historical precedence. A fact that the author’s Jewish heritage points to. Building on top of that, we look at the broader list of characters and grapple with how one finds purpose, community, and belonging when you are turned into a grotesque museum exhibit? What is life without the social constructs, mores, interactions, and arts? For me, Harpman suggests that there is an innate inner spark that can be nurtured into a drive to exist. A position which reminds me of Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am.” In that, deconstructing existence to a simple kernel of the self could be a pathway to knowing your world. Even if only as far as the empirical evidence in front of you allows. All this contemplation gets blown open by a miraculous event that opens up the world within the novel and introduces new forms of pain, isolation, and existential crisis. The second half felt like some new realm of Dante’s Inferno. It is shocking to me that this paradigm-shifting sci-fi and horror combination of a book has not occupied the cultural zeitgeist more. It is spell-blindingly gripping and challenges everything you know about what it means to be human. A must-read and a new favorite of mine.
By Richard Bakare
Paid ten bucks and only received sample and afterword. There is no mechanism to force the books app to give me the entire book. Sorry to report this in a review but I see no other way to warn people that they may want to buy this book elsewhere.
By xgixgiditxjcoychovuo
heart-wrenching yet tender. tragic yet full of hope. i devoured this in 2 days.
By emrohliee
Amazing read, took me out of my reading slump very quickly. Makes you think very deeply and wishing things were different!
By Ig\ @samlopezx