Reading the 20th Century discussion

Unless there's a glitch in the search function, it seems we don't actually have a favourite author thread for Annie Ernaux, though we've talked about her at various times in different places.

So this is the place to chat about anything Ernaux.

I really liked Happening, such a clear-headed and harrowing account. It exposed the social and political realities of that time and place in ways that newspaper stories and histories don't have the scope to accomplish.

It's the only thing I've read by her, but I'd certainly like to read more. I thought it was brilliant (5 stars).

Annie Ernaux really is one of my favourite authors. I've read a lot of her work, both the auto-fiction and the diary that was the raw material for her account of an affair with a Russian diplomat.

I was prompted to set this up as my real-life book group is reading her The Years next week - with the holidays, I'd forgotten and so am picking it up now. This was my first Ernaux and the book that made me rush out to buy everything else she's written - so it will be interesting to re-read it.

Who else is an Ernaux fan here?

Greg wrote: "I really liked Happening, such a clear-headed and harrowing account. It exposed the social and political realities of that time and place"

Easily 5-stars from me too - and, of course, we're back in a place where some women are having to go through similar experiences all over again.

Roman Clodia wrote: "Easily 5-stars from me too - and, of course, we're back in a place where some women are having to go through similar experiences all over again."

And that just makes it all the more important a story to tell!

I see that my library has The Years RC. I think I'll pick that one up later; I was trying to figure out which of her books to read next. Which of her books that you have read so far would you recommend most?

I loved Simple Passion, A Girl's Story, A Frozen Woman, The Use of Photography. But every book of hers has been either 4- or 5-stars for me apart from Do What They Say or Else which was 3-stars.

In a way, everything is leading up to The Years.

I think The Years was also my first Ernaux. Whichever I read first, I remember loving it, and rushing back to the library to get whatever else they had. There was more than I expected from a suburban library, but a lot. They have more now.

I've also read A Man's Place, Things Seen, and I listened to the audio of The Use of Photography. At some point I'll go back to that and read the print version, so I can see the actual photos.

I read my first Ernaux a couple of months ago - A Girl's Story, which was part of a Lolita-adjacent project I did last year. It definitely made me want to read more from her, but I wasn't sure where to start - what do you think would be a good entre into her fiction to get a sense of her style? Simple Passion? A Frozen Woman? I already feel like I'd enjoy her memoirs but wanted to check out her fiction too.

Rose wrote: "I read my first Ernaux a couple of months ago - A Girl's Story, which was part of a Lolita-adjacent project I did last year. It definitely made me want to read more from her, but I wasn't sure wher..."

I'm no expert, but I feel like it might not matter. I've noticed that several of the volumes I've read, or looked through and put on my TBR, overlap.

G wrote: "I'm no expert, but I feel like it might not matter. I've noticed that several of the volumes I've read, or looked through and put on my TBR, overlap..."

Good to know. I read Shame last year and was planning to try another one this August, for Women in Translation month.

I've just read A Man's Place. A Woman's Story , Shame and I Remain in Darkness all of which I can strongly recommend . The last one is a very hard read if you are or have ever been in the terrible position of caring for someone you love who has dementia . I'm going to read Happening this week then The Years after this .

I view her work both as a continued and unadorned searching , making sense of her life , and as a truthful portrait of her parents and the limits placed on them as working class non metropolitan people in the twentieth century . She reminds me of an anthropologist in her approach except that she is deeply emotionally involved and is honest enough to reveal her own limits in both recall and response .

Ok, I see that it's mostly nonfiction so never mind, my question wasn't really relevant!

Hester wrote: "I view her work both as a continued and unadorned searching , making sense of her life , and as a truthful portrait of her parents and the limits placed on them . . . . She reminds me of an anthropologist in her approach except that she is deeply emotionally involved and is honest enough to reveal her own limits in both recall and response"

Reading this description reminds me of A Very Easy Death by Simone de Beauvoir as well. I don't know if it has to do with French intellectual traditions somehow, but both of these writers seem able to see unbelievably difficult personal experiences with piercing intellectual clarity and honesty, where the emotions don't muddle the ability to think clearly, and where the intellect doesn't obscure the emotional weight either. It's a rare and impressive feat! Both A Very Easy Death and Happening had it. They do not shy away from what's difficult; they dive straight into the center with both brain and heart.

I'm a fan. I've read A Girl's Story and A Simple Passion, and The Years is on my to read list.

Greg wrote: "I don't know if it has to do with French intellectual traditions somehow"

I've also noticed connections between de Beauvoir and Ernaux, and I'd maybe file Marguerite Duras alongside them.

Me too @Roman and @Greg ..
Both writers were / are writing both a retort to and continuing the tradition of French intellectualism .

https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

My real life book group met last night to discuss The Years. It turned out to be a bit of a marmite book: three people didn't like it (all women), eight of us, including all the men, loved it. I was surprised it proved so divisive though it was a great discussion as a result.

It especially struck me that the people who didn't like it, thought it was heartless and soulless - whereas others of us find it very moving.

RC, I wonder if it has to do with her capacity to keep intellectually clear, even during emotional events?

In Happening, I definitely noticed that and saw it positively. Seeing traumatic events clearly is one of her gifts I think. But I can see that some might perceive that very thing as cold or unfeeling.

I don't see it that way though. It's more of a discipline. It was obvious in the book I read that she cared very much; she just wasn't allowing her feeling to dominate her other capacities.

Greg wrote: "RC, I wonder if it has to do with her capacity to keep intellectually clear, even during emotional events?"

I think you're right, Greg, and also The Years doesn't use an 'I' voice - it alternates between 'she' where Ernaux now looks back at the person she was in the past; and 'we' where she's telling the story of a generation. She doesn't explain why until close to the end when she reaches the 'she' she was when she was thinking about how to write a self travelling through time and history.

It all worked marvellously for me. As you say, there's something very austere about how unflinching she is writing about terrible and what were called 'shameful' things.