Translated by Frank Wynne
Review by Annabel

I would never have predicted that Virginie Despentes, creator/director of the 2000 rape-revenge novel and film Baise-moi, author of the superb ‘State of the Nation’ Vernon Subutex Trilogy, and her unique take on feminist philosophy King Kong Theory would write an epistolary novel – but she has!
The readers of French classics among you may recall that Laclos’ Les Liaisons Dangereuses is written in letters, mostly between the novel’s two main protagonists, lovers-turned-rivals the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont. When you think about it, the Laclos novel is a #MeToo story, and although that is the initial theme of Despentes’s novel, it’s not the only one as we’ll see.
Published as Cher Connard in France, Despentes’ regular English translator Frank Wynne has gone for a matching alliteration in the title in English, which is typical of his care and sense of humour!
It all begins when Oscar posts how he saw the ageing film star Rebecca Latté in Paris.
… A tragic metaphor for an era heading swiftly to hell in a handcart – this sublime woman who initiated so many teenage boys into the fascinations of feminine seduction at its peak, now a wrinkled toad. Not just old. But husky, slovenly, faintly repulsive, and that filthy, loud-mouthed persona. A complete turn-off. Someone told me she’s become an inspiration for young feminists. The fleabag fraternity strikes again. Am I surprised? Am I fuck. …
To his surprise, Rebecca replies, beginning her email, ‘Dear Dickhead.’
Oscar writes back, telling her that he’s a novelist now, wondering if she remembers him, Oscar Jocard as he was then, he writes under a pseudonym. She used to play with his big sister Corinne when they were children and Oscar spied on them. Rebecca replies saying, she couldn’t find Corinne anywhere on social media, so asks him to:
Give her my love. As for you, drop dead.
But the correspondence via email carries on and soon we learn that Oscar has been the subject of some #MeToo accusations from his former publicist Zoe Katana. Those who have read Vernon Subutex may recall that Vodka Katana was the dead girlfriend of Alex Bleach – I’ve not been able to find a connection beyond the shared surname. So we get a few long blog posts from Zoe interspersed throughout the narrative, (as we do from the subjects of Laclos’ sparring too). We soon find out that Oscar did molest Zoe, leaving her so traumatised, she left her job. It also transpires that Oscar was drunk and high most of the time during that period – and the narrative begins to take on a different slant, that of addicts talking to each other – as Rebecca confesses that she’s been an addict for years too.
That’s not to minimise the effects of the torture that Oscar put Zoe through. Rebecca is ultimately supportive of both, although she will always be more on Zoe’s side. Oscar’s sister and daughter also give their points of view. All of them, however, believe that Oscar can do better. Despentes uses her characters to ask what happens next.
Oscar and Rebecca both have flirtations with NA, but it is their support for each other over their booze and drug addictions that get both onto a more even keel. Given that this is Despentes’ lockdown novel, as her characters are forced into isolation, the epistolary/e-mail format and commentary about social media seem so appropriate, and loneliness is another underlying theme.
Although Despentes begins the novel with her characteristic verbal directness, as the relationship between the pair progresses, the language may mellow but her sense of humour never wavers. This is cleverly done, and in Frank Wynne’s capable hands, such a pleasure to read.

Annabel is a co-founder and editor of Shiny New Books.
Virginie Despentes, Dear Dickhead (Maclehose, 2024). 978-1529430806, 320pp., hardback.
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