Status Updates From La vergüenza

Different time and different place. But when Ernaux describes the poverty they are in, I keep being struck by the seeming optimism of the time. Factories are opening up, people are moving to the town, things are being rebuilt. I still se and hear what she says about class, but her perspective still -to me- appears to contain the air of optimism that was prevalent at the time.

‘What matters to me is to find the words I would use to describe myself and the world around me; (…). But the woman of 1995 can never go back to being the little girl of 1952, who knew nothing beyond her small town, her family and her convent school, and who had a limited number of words at her disposal. With the immensity of time stretching ahead of her. We have no true memory ourselves’ (25).

omg! I marked this as want to read on Oct 28 2025, exactly a year ago!!! how crazy is that