The Nasty Banquote

She was born in Châteauroux in 1954. She remained there for eighteen months. During her childhood, with her three brothers and sisters, she moved from city to city, depending on the assignments her sub-prefect father received.

In 1976 she was awarded a Master of Philosophy by the Sorbonne, Paris, and in 1978 went on to complete an MA in philosophy and aesthetics at Université de Paris X - Nanterre. There, too, she completed a doctorate in philosophy in 1981. During those years she studied with a teacher she admires, Emmanuel Levinas, and her work focussed on the notion of asceticism in Christian mysticism.