Annie Ernaux
Encyclopedia
Annie Ernaux is a French writer.
She won the Prix Renaudot
in 1984 for her book La Place, an autobiographical
narrative focusing on her relationship with her father and her experiences growing up in a small town in France, and her subsequent process of moving into adulthood and away from her parents' place of origin.
As a child, Annie Ernaux lived in Yvetot
in Normandy
. Very early in her career, she turned away from fiction to concentrate on autobiography. Her work combines historic and individual experiences. She charts her parents' social progression (La place, La honte), her adolescence (Ce qu’ils disent ou rien), her marriage (La femme gelée), her abortion (L’événement), Alzheimer's disease
(Je ne suis pas sortie de ma nuit), the death of her mother (Une femme) and breast cancer
(L’usage de la photo). Ernaux also wrote L'écriture comme un couteau (which should be understood as Writing as sharp as a knife) with Frédéric-Yves Jeannet
.
Her latest novel Les années (Gallimard, 2008) is considered her 'magnum opus' and was very well received by the French critics. In this latter book Ernaux writes of herself in third person point of view (elle) for the first time. She gives a vivid look at French society from after Second World War until today. It is the poignant social history of a woman and of the society she lived in. The female character in the book has looked death in the eye; she describes what she realizes will soon be disappearing and how relative that all is, if she should disappear too.
Many of her works have been translated into English and published by Seven Stories Press.
She won the Prix Renaudot
Prix Renaudot
The Prix Théophraste-Renaudot or Prix Renaudot is a French literary award which was created in 1926 by ten art critics awaiting the results of the deliberation of the jury of the Prix Goncourt....
in 1984 for her book La Place, an autobiographical
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
narrative focusing on her relationship with her father and her experiences growing up in a small town in France, and her subsequent process of moving into adulthood and away from her parents' place of origin.
As a child, Annie Ernaux lived in Yvetot
Yvetot
Yvetot is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.-History:The name is of Scandinavian origin . The town is most likely of Scandinavian origin too. There is also a locality in Bromölla municipality in southern Sweden bearing the same name...
in Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
. Very early in her career, she turned away from fiction to concentrate on autobiography. Her work combines historic and individual experiences. She charts her parents' social progression (La place, La honte), her adolescence (Ce qu’ils disent ou rien), her marriage (La femme gelée), her abortion (L’événement), Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
(Je ne suis pas sortie de ma nuit), the death of her mother (Une femme) and breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
(L’usage de la photo). Ernaux also wrote L'écriture comme un couteau (which should be understood as Writing as sharp as a knife) with Frédéric-Yves Jeannet
Frédéric-Yves Jeannet
Frédéric-Yves Jeannet is a writer and professor of French origin who emigrated to Mexico in his youth. He was born in Grenoble, France, in 1959 and left it in 1975. Jeannet earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in comparative literature at the University of Grenoble. He then lived in London until 1977,...
.
Her latest novel Les années (Gallimard, 2008) is considered her 'magnum opus' and was very well received by the French critics. In this latter book Ernaux writes of herself in third person point of view (elle) for the first time. She gives a vivid look at French society from after Second World War until today. It is the poignant social history of a woman and of the society she lived in. The female character in the book has looked death in the eye; she describes what she realizes will soon be disappearing and how relative that all is, if she should disappear too.
Many of her works have been translated into English and published by Seven Stories Press.