In The Origin of the World, Pierre Michon’s spare, unforgettable new novel, a twenty-year-old takes his first teaching job in a sleepy French town. Lost in a succession of rainy days and sleepless nights, the young teacher falls under the spell of one of the town’s residents, Yvonne, a woman of transcendent beauty. Everything about her screamed desire, something that people say enough that it’s almost meaningless, but it was a quality that she gave of ...
