Until recently, Emma Becker received the France Culture/Télérama student novel prize for her book La Maison, published by Flammarion. In this incredible work, she tells us about an extraordinary experience as a Berlin prostitute.
A young writer, Emma Becker presents with La Maison, her third book, the incredible story of two years spent in a Berlin brothel, telling us about the excitement of discovery, the disappointment of dull client requests, and denouncing the hypocritical situation of France towards sex workers.
The lowdown
In 2013, she moved to Berlin where prostitution has been legal since 2002, and driven by curiosity, decided to live the experience of working in a brothel. A radical choice, yet guided by a true desire to understand the world she finds herself in.
The intense desire to become, in turn, a woman who finds her strength and independence in the reclaiming of her body. Fantasizing about the world of the brothel, especially through the works of Zola or Sade, she chooses the pseudonym Justine, a nod to the eponymous work of the latter. Fascinated by these prostitutes, symbols of power and desire, she wants to be one of them. Why it's cool: First at the Manege, a gloomy place without a soul, she then works at La Maison, a hidden brothel behind a Berlin building that appears like any other. Two floors, with multiple small rooms where the girls prepare themselves and receive their clients, sometimes up to 5 per day. Speaking almost as if talking about her own life...It is a regular job, waiting with others for the clients to arrive before taking care of them. We look at this story with a curious gaze, almost like voyeurs looking through the window. Through their often unoriginal fantasies, and in contact with a world that is not always described by men in their stories, she offers us a real journey behind these facades, which will surprise more than one reader, and undoubtedly arouse curiosity as the pages turn.Voir cette publication sur Instagram
She says it herself, she might still be there if La Maison hadn't closed down. However, through all her adventures, it's in her story that we would still like to linger for a while.
La Maison
Éditions Flammarion
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