“MATRIX”
By Lauren Groff
Riverhead Books ($28)
In 2015, author Lauren Groff’s novel “Fates and Furies” was released to widespread critical acclaim. A study of a marriage through the eyes of each spouse, the book was an outstanding example of an emerging literary trend—let’s call it feminist reclamation narratives—that had really hit its stride with Gillian Flynn’s 2012 novel “Gone Girl” and has continued on through books like Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s “Fleishman Is In Trouble” in 2019. These stories portray the narrative of a man, then invert that narrative by exploring the woman’s view of it, revealing the irreconcilable differences in how two people can experience the same events.
This idea of feminist reclamation narratives also applies to recent books that re-imagine the lives of mythological or historical women, such as last year’s stunning “Hamnet” by Maggie O’Farrell, which depicted a fictionalized version of Anne Hathaway—better known as Shakespeare’s wife—as she reacts to the loss of their son from the plague.
Now, Ms. Groff has released her own take on these kinds of narratives with “Matrix,” a gorgeously bold work that imagines the life of the late 12th-century poet Marie de France in order to explore the power of creativity and celebrate the sensuality of love between women. Like “Fates and Furies” before it, the author may not have created the genre, but she has come close to perfecting it.
Marie de France is remembered mostly for her short narrative poems about courtly love (called “lais”); in fact, she is only known as Marie de France because of a line that translates to “My name is Marie, and I am from France” in one of her works. However, since the poet was highly educated at a time when only women of noble birth had that opportunity, scholars have suggested a few different women who could have been the mysterious Marie. Using one of these possible identities, Ms. Groff crafts a portrait of a woman both ahead of and out of her time in her desire for power and respect.
The Marie of “Matrix” is a product of rape at the hands of a man from the Plantagenet dynasty, making her the half-sister of England’s King Henry II. After her mother’s death, she flees her native France for the king’s court, which gives her access to a life of nobility. Since this fictional Marie is unattractive in a conventional sense, rendering her unfit for marriage, she is sent away by her sister-in-law, Eleanor of Aquitaine, to become the second-in-command of an impoverished abbey in the south of England.
When 17-year-old Marie arrives at the gloomy abbey, she is alone, desperately in love with Eleanor, and skeptical of her religion. Between the rigid schedule of prayer, the scarcity of food, and her longing for Eleanor, Marie’s first months and years at the abbey are almost too much to bear. Yet, her ambition and sheer force of will propel her forward, and under her guidance the abbey prospers. As decades pass, Marie dedicates her life to two things: protecting the nuns of the abbey from the outside world—that is, from men—and building a legacy for herself that will long outlive her. Both aims take the form of massive construction projects around the abbey, as Marie periodically experiences religious visions that guide her planning. In this way, Marie’s guidance makes the abbey itself a true ‘matrix’ in the historical definition of the word—a kind of womb that supports and protects the women within its walls. As the abbey grows, so does its renown and income: a fact that does not sit well with the men of the surrounding lands, or Marie’s male superiors in the Catholic Church.
In Ms. Groff’s hands, Marie is a woman entirely heretical in terms of medieval Catholic orthodoxy: her desire for power and recognition is entirely antithetical to church doctrine, much less her sexual and romantic desire for other women. With her direction, Marie’s abbey becomes a shining example of what women could achieve at that time—given the courage to ignore the dictums and expectations of men.
“Matrix” does so much more than give a voice to a relatively unknown historical figure; it deftly weaves together history and fantasy to paint an incandescent portrait of not only a powerful woman but a powerful idea, one that is still controversial almost a millennium since Marie de France lived—that women can only be fully realized when they are freed from the tyranny of the male gaze.
Wendeline O. Wright is a member of the National Book Critics Circle (wendywright@gmail.com).
First Published: October 17, 2021, 10:45 a.m.