Annie Ernaux

Lyn Thomas (University of Sussex)

Ed. by David Houston Jones, University of Exeter
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.07: French Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kate Averis (Universidad de Antioquia), Hugo Azerad (University of Cambridge), Patrick ffrench (King's College London), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Akane Kawakami (Birkbeck, University of London), Siobhán McIlvanney (King's College London), Sinan Richards (King's College London), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

Born 1 Sep 1940
Activity 1974-ongoing

Places

Born in France
Active in France

Activities

Primary

Autobiographer
Novelist

Resources

Summary

Annie Ernaux was an unknown secondary level teacher of French when she sent her first manuscript to the prestigious Parisian publisher Gallimard. It was immediately accepted, and her autobiographical novel, Les armoires vides [Cleaned Out], was published in 1974. Through colourful, dense and at times violent language, it depicts the emotional dimensions (guilt, anger, shame) of a move from working-class to middle class culture through education. This theme is developed in still greater depth in subsequent works, and Ernaux makes a highly original contribution to contemporary literature by addressing social class and its intersections with gender and sexuality through an …

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3663 words

Citation: Thomas, Lyn. "Annie Ernaux". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 February 2010 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11858, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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