A Man's Place: Annie Ernaux

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On 6 October 2022, Annie Ernaux was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. This review of her memoir “A Man’s Place” was first published in November 2020.

A Mans Place by Annie Ernaux - AbeBooks A Mans Place by Annie Ernaux - AbeBooks

His greatest satisfaction, possibly even the raison d’être of his existence, was the fact that I belonged to the world which had scorned him.His great satisfaction, possibly even the raison d`etre of his existence, was the fact that I belonged to the world which he had scorned him. Ernaux’s parents met at the rope factory. Then her father worked as a roofer. When he fell from a rafter, her parents looked for a business they could manage, one that didn’t require a lot of start-up money. They bought a grocery store. Because they had to grant credit, they struggled financially. Her father had to get a second job while her mother ran the business. Oggi la mamma è morta. O forse ieri, non so. Ho ricevuto un telegramma dall’ospizio: ‘Madre deceduta. Funerali domani. Distinti saluti.’ Questo non dice nulla: è stato forse ieri. It is difficult to write about our loved ones after their death during the time of grief as we will have to relive our memories which will make us happy and sad at the same time. This book goes by two names, ‘A Man’s Place (Four Walls Eight Windows. 1992 and then later editions) and “Positions” (Quartet Books, 1991). I have no idea why. 😐

A Man’s Place by Annie Ernaux | Fitzcarraldo Editions

He would be honored by her book about him, I think, but also he'd make fun of her seriousness, including some of the (very few) observations of an educated daughter, though she is careful to honor him though her use of language. She uses words to create a man, her father, though they are not quite his words. They are a daughter's loving, respectful words. Sparse observations on the impact of class and generational differences on how close one can be with a parent. The language of Ernaux is precise and captures the universal well We can see Ernaux thinking about writing about her father while waiting for news of her first job. Her words truly reflect the complicated relationship she had with her family.

The core of this short book (and most of her books are short, part of a larger memoir project) is of course about her father, begun at the occasion of his death. It is also about a time and a place, mid twentieth century France. Ernaux writes of her struggle to move out of the working-class life in which she was raised to the middle class--university, teaching primary school, marrying “well” into her husband’s middle class family, becoming an academic and a writer. Her father’s pride and sense of loss about her moving out and “up” was mirrored by her own pride and sense of loss. An affecting portrait of a man whose own peasant upbringing typified the adage that a child should never be better educated than his parents.’ bizde sınıfsal farklar hiç bu denli yoğun olmadığı, osmanlı saray çevresini dışarda bırakırsak, çoğumuz reaya köylüler olduğumuz için şanslıyız belki de. belki de değiliz çünkü fransız edebiyatını en çok besleyen konu bu. şu an kararsız kaldım. proprio nel modo in cui viene vestito il corpo del padre appena morto, dopo avergli chiuso gli occhi, pur facendo presto per anticipare l’irrigidimento. You have to admire Ernaux skill to write in a so detached and emotionless way, like an anchor reporting the news. Still, I for one need to have emotion in my readings, either be love or hate, but something at least, otherwise I might as well feel more inclined to read a pamphlet of trending furniture instead.

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Writing, too, proves itself a stoic yet inflexible medium. Late in A Man’s Place, Ernaux writes, “I remember the title of a book, L’Expérience des limites. I was so disappointed when I started reading it, it was only about metaphysics and literature.” She evinces a disappointment that language, so appealing, cannot reach beyond theory. In doing so, she reflects on its inadequacies in capturing her father’s provincial, simple, utterly unremarkable life. Engagement with real social and personal experience is, apparently, not to be found in the books for which Ernaux’s erudite narrator yearns. No lyrical reminiscences, no triumphant displays of irony. This neutral way of writing comes to me naturally, it is the very same style I used when I wrote home telling my parents the latest news." Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuthThis novel has left me cold. There are no emotions – rare case considering the novel is an elegy for the death of the father of the narrator (Annie?).

Annie Ernaux and the brutal art of memoir - New Statesman

E insieme al dolore, la bellezza di queste pagine, che non se ne va, rimane, si ferma, entra dentro. The Academy praised “her for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory.” This book though short, tells us a lot about the family life of hardworking people in France. Annie calls her writing style a neutral way of writing. She shares all the thoughts that went through her mind while writing this book Also I must note memoirs have never been my thing. and this one was no exception. But at least Ernaux’s are very short. Some interesting quotes here and there, but nothing memorable that will truly stay, at least for me. Un relato bastante corto el cual está destinado básicamente a recordar al padre de la autora, Annie Ernaux (1940), mediante un texto autobiográfico. Destacan algunos detalles que hablan un poco sobre la sensibilidad herida de Annie ante actos involuntarios de su padre por ser él una persona rústica con modales poco refinados y ella a pesar de sus orígenes pudo acceder a un mundo burgués y cultivado.

A Man’s Place

I finished this novel in August but I was very very busy and had no time to write a proper review. Now, I feel it is too late so I will only say a few words.