A Pause, 1935–37

This chapter focuses on the suspension of Nathalie Sarraute's writing and involvement in the campaign for the rights of women. It points out how Nathalie rejected feminism in literature but saw it as a goal that she was happy to pursue in the political arena. It also shows Nathalie's perception on feminism as a prospect for equality and erasure of sexual difference that she regarded as both a fundamental human reality and a basic human right. The chapter narrates Nathalie's encounter with Maria Jolas, the école Bilingue, which encouraged her to resume her abandoned “tropisms.” It mentions Nathalie's solitary stay at an apartment room in rue de la Tombe-Issoire that ultimately proved to be her source of angst that made her complete several of the “tropisms.”