Trafika Europe 11 - Swiss Delights

Noëlle Revaz

seventh book in her bathroom. The face on the cover was both easy and difficult to identify. As soon as Jenna and Joanna recognized themselves, the face eluded them. Jenna thought she could see her own face in the line of the eyebrows. But a second later, the eyebrows seemed to be someone else’s. Joanna also recognized the shape of her nose and cheekbones in the face. That, too, vanished. A new face was before them, at once mutable and fixed. That ’s what was so fascinating: this face belonged to her, Joanna Fortaggi. Then it became Jenna Fortuni’s face. Then it was both hers and Jenna Fortuni’s. But all of a sudden, it was neither of their faces. It turned into a grand face, anonymous and impersonal as a statue’s. Full and empty. Real, unreal. True and cold. The face of someone in particular and yet it was no-one’s face. The next moment, it resumed Joanna’s expression. The television hosts, as extremely sensitive beings attuned to the language of signs, had reacted strongly to this ambiguity. The face and the book gave rise to many an interrogation and much discomfiture. The hosts didn’t know if they should announce that the book was at once Jenna Fortuni’s fourth novel and Joanna Fortaggi’s seventh. But which of the two novelists should they mention first? The hosts also weren’t certain if they should cut to the chase and describe the book as the first one by Jenna Fortuni and Joanna Fortaggi. But, again, in that case: which of the two novelists should be

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