La Javanaise

La Javanaise is one of the songs the narrator relied on during the period surrounding her abortion. Its later recurrence turns a source of support into an involuntary reminder of that experience, linking music to the persistence of memory and distress.

Role During the Period

The narrator recalls La Javanaise alongside J’ai la mémoire qui flanche as music that helped her cope at the time. The songs belong to the lived experience of that period, not merely to its later recollection: they had a practical emotional role while she was going through it.

Later Recurrence

Years later, coming across La Javanaise deeply upsets the narrator. The reaction is part of a broader pattern: reading about abortion in a novel can also plunge her into shock, disrupting thought and images. The song’s return thus reveals how an earlier means of coping can become a powerful trigger, carrying the past into the present.