Annie Ernaux: An Introduction to the Writer and her Audience(New Directions in European Writing)

The award-winning novels of Annie Ernaux are controversial, innovative, and address the topical issues of gender and social class. Surprisingly, there has been no major study of her work, despite the fact that it is increasingly taught and has been widely translated. This book fills that gap by presenting Ernaux's work through a range of readings: those of the author herself, those of academics, of reviewers and of 'ordinary' readers. Ernaux's own curiosity about the relationship between writing and the reality she is describing leads her to adopt a self-reflective approach to the narration of her life experience. This stimulating introduction to her work reflects both on the relationship between writing and identity in general terms, and specifically on the process of writing literary criticism. In the final chapter the impersonal register of academic writing is extended by a more personal dialogue with Ernaux's texts. What emerges is a new critical method that explores the multiple relationships between readers and texts. The first work in English on Annie Ernaux, this book goes far beyond traditional analyses to address the fundamental question of critical writing and to present a new methodology for the study of literary texts. It is thus essential reading for those interested in French literature, critical theory, gender and cultural studies.

Table of Contents:
Part 1: A writing history; Ernaux's auto/biographical pact - the author and the reader in the text; gender, sexuality and class; identity, femininity and loss. Part 2: Reading for passion and pleasure; reading critically; reading in the first person. Appendix 1: "Fragments around Philippe V". Appendix 2: The press reception of "La Honte" and "Je ne suis pas sortie di ma nuit".

About the Author :
Lyn Thomas London Metropolitan University

Review :
It's difficult to put into words how impressed I was by the depth and accuracy of this book. It provides an in-depth analysis of the importance of the gaze, the mother / daughter relationship, my desire to return to the ‘text-world' of my childhood. I have to hurry to forget what [Lyn Thomas] has written, in order to be able to write 'innocently'. This lucid and wide-ranging study is above all a powerful engagement with Annie Ernaux's project as a writer. In a brilliant analysis, Lyn Thomas links the ambivalent reception of this best-selling author to the persistent themes and challenges of her work. Thomas provides a lively treatment that is sympathetic yet objective . . . A solid introduction for upper division graduates and above.