Women writing in contemporary France

Mother–daughter relations in Constant’s fiction 73
arms round a tearful Babette in order to comfort her, Aurore looks after the
alcoholic Lola, and, in turn, Lola helps Aurore to recognise the legitimacy
of her own pain. Furthermore, the confidences the women share lead each
of them on into self-reflection and to a degree of greater self-knowledge.
Thus, there is a real sense in this novel of what women can do for each other
– as well as against one another.
Klein’s work is relevant to this aspect of the novel too: primary conflicts
of love and hate are present throughout life in our relations with other
people. The way we work through them in the infantile state influences all
the relationships we have later in life. Although it is generally accepted that
ambivalence is a common character of mother–daughter relations, Klein
would undoubtedly argue that, to some extent, it is also to be found in all
our relationships. 8 Constant’s Confidence pour confidence points to different
ways in which the identities of the four women are tied up with one
another, and for Aurore this works in a positive way. During the course of
the novel, Aurore herself never finds out about Gloria’s outrageous plagiarism
of her book. 9 On the contrary, Aurore’s work is the centre of attention
at the feminist conference, and, moreover, her self-identity is further
strengthened in a more personal way. Aurore’s sense of self has always been
linked with Lola, whom she physically resembles. In her youth, Aurore was
constantly mistaken for the slightly older actress, but here, in Gloria’s
house, Lola herself mistakes a photograph of Aurore for her own image.
Thus, the dynamics of the relationship between the two women are
changed, Lola’s sense of self disintegrating in favour of Aurore’s increasingly
stronger identity. For Babette, Gloria’s maternal demeanour is negative,
but, in contrast, Aurore is happy for Gloria to care for her: ‘elle
continuait à frotter les pieds d’Aurore pour la réconforter, si incroyablement
forte, si immensément forte. Aurore se laissait faire dans un abandon
d’enfant en nourrice’ (p. 59) (she continued to rub Aurore’s feet to comfort
her, so incredibly strong, so immensely strong. Aurore let herself go, abandoning
herself like a child to a nurse).
These women-to-women relations are certainly pertinent to the
apotheosis at the close of the novel, although in themselves they are only
one crystallising element in the process which ends in Aurore remembering
her mother’s face, and other factors play their part. The death of the pet
‘rat’ in Gloria’s kitchen is more than a real-life replay of an episode from
one of Aurore’s books, however much of a contributory factor that reworking
in itself may be. Rather, it quite literally enables Aurore to re-experience
childhood trauma: ‘Et elle se rappelait, mais lointaine, étouffée, presque