Contesting Bondage by Judaic Law: Adultery and Illicit Desire in Éliette Abécassis's Et te voici permise à tout homme

Abstract

Although she is a descendant of Moroccan ancestry, Éliette Abécassis is identified as a seminal French-Jewish author who concentrates on contemporary issues pertaining to the feminine-Jewish condition. In Et te voici permise à tout homme (2011), Abécassis explores the hermetic world of Orthodox-French Jews, with emphasis on the plight of her protagonist, Anna, who endeavours to free herself from a loveless marriage. This essay examines various textual forms of Anna’s bondage, exemplified by the oppression of ancient Talmudic laws. With firm conviction, Anna defies the laws of her faith, as she contests the subjugated role assigned to Orthodox women to seek happiness with another man. As will be shown, her quest for liberty is hindered by the Orthodox community’s condemnation of her as an adulteress, a stigma that reveals an intriguing intertextual connection to certain aspects of Eve’s and Bathsheba’s sacred stories. But in sharp contrast to the silence of these archetypal women, Anna speaks up in her battle to liberate her and body and soul from the legal chains of these juridical laws, and, in so doing, reclaims agency over herself.