Colombe Schneck on The Paris Trilogy (with Translator Natasha Lehrer)

The Shakespeare and Company Interview

2024/11/06

Colombe Schneck on The Paris Trilogy (with Translator Natasha Lehrer)

The Shakespeare and Company Interview

2024/11/06

Overview Shownote Highlights Transcript Chapters Pins

Shownote

Colombe Schneck’s THE PARIS TRILOGY is a book—or rather three books, first published separately in French—about growing up, about friendship, about love, about family, about class, about womanhood and the patriarchy…and about swimming. In short, about ever...

Highlights

In this episode, Colombe Schneck sits down with Adam Biles at Shakespeare and Company to discuss her autobiographical trilogy, which explores womanhood, class, friendship, and the liberating power of swimming. Joined by translator Natasha Lehrer, Schneck reveals the personal stories behind the books, from a teenage abortion to a childhood friendship cut short, and reflects on how writing and translation have reshaped her relationship with her own life.

12:49

French society humbles women.

26:54

Friendship is freer and less governed by societal norms than love.

37:04

Translation creates a new work.

50:10

Swimming taught me to strip away unnecessary gestures.

Chapters

From Personal Pain to a Parisian Trilogy: How Three Separate Stories Became One

00:00

Class, Gender, and the French Humbling of Women: A Conversation on Society's Invisible Rules

16:38

Swimming as Salvation: How the Water Transformed Her Body, Mind, and Writing

33:12

The Art of Translation: Finding a New, Funnier Voice in English

42:24

Transcript

Adam Biles: Good evening, everyone. Good evening. Welcome to Shakespeare and Company. A lot of books have been written about Paris, showing greater or lesser insight, depending on the author, about this city and those who live here. In a sense, Colombe Sch...