Ultramarine - Mariette Navarro

The metaphysically disorienting tale of a female captain who loses control of her thinking--and her crew--aboard a cargo ship in the Atlantic. n Ultramarine begins when the female captain agrees to let her crew stop the engines and go for a swim. But when they return, the crew of mariners is not the original 20, but 21. When the ship itself begins behaving strangely, a haunting question emerges: is she hallucinating, or is this real? n The beauty of language comes first in Ultramarine. Navarro's novel pays gorgeous attention to the way the language can mimic the rocking of the boat, the way imagery can convey the vastness of the sea. Brilliant psychological suspense and extraordinary poetry lingers in every word, every sentence. Navarro has penned a poetic and profound novel that plummets the reader into the psychological realm as well as strikingly deft, restrained and lucidly lyrical prose and pared-down dialogue. In Eve Hill-Agnus's translation, Mariette Navarro establishes herself as an exciting, mature voice in French literature. nThe metaphysically disorienting tale of a captain who loses control of her thinking--and her crew--aboard a cargo ship in the Atlantic. A female captain in a male-dominated field, the unnamed narrator of Ultramarine has secured her success through strict adherence to protocol; she now manages a crew of twenty men and helms her own vessel. Uncharacteristically, one day, she allows her crew to cut the engines and swim in the deep open water. Returning from this moment of leisure, the crew of mariners no longer totals twenty men: now, they are twenty-one. Sparse and psychological, Ultramarine grips the reader in a tussle with reality, its rhythmic language mimicking the rocking of the boat. As instruments fail, weather reports contradict the senses, and the ship's navigation mechanisms break down, Navarro lulls her readers into accepting the unacceptable (Asymptote) through deft, lyrical prose and pared-down dialogue. In Eve Hill-Agnus's poetic translation, Mariette Navarro emerges as an exciting, mature voice in French literature. nWinner of the 2024 Albertine Translation Prize The metaphysically disorienting tale of a captain who loses control of her thinking--and her crew--aboard a cargo ship in the Atlantic. A female captain in a male-dominated field, the unnamed narrator of Ultramarine has secured her success through strict adherence to protocol; she now manages a crew of twenty men and helms her own vessel. U