Nobel Prize in literature goes to French author Annie Ernaux

Source: The post is based on the following articles

“Nobel Prize in literature goes to French author Annie Ernaux” published in The Hindu on 7^th October 2022.

“Nobel Prize in Literature 2022: Annie Ernaux, bearing witness to women’s experiences and memory” published in the Indian Express on 7^th October 2022.

What is the News?

French author Annie Ernaux has won the Nobel Prize in literature for 2022.

What are the contributions of Annie Ernaux?

Annie Ernaux works range from a history of France, her first sexual experience and the shame around it, her mother’s illness and death to her abortion to her class-linked shame. She uncovered the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory with clinical acuity and courage.

She consistently and from different angles, examines a life marked by strong disparities regarding gender, language and class.

She uses songs, slogans, meals from the time she is writing about, which many say blurs the line between fiction and autobiography.

About Annie Ernaux’s literary works

She has written over thirty literary works. Some of her famous literary works include,

‘L’occupation’ (2002): In this, she dissects the social mythology of romantic love. She confesses and attacks a self-image built on stereotypes in this work.

The Years: It was translated into English and was shortlisted for the Man Booker international prize.

Happening(2001): It was based on her abortion. It explains about the illegal abortion in the 1960s. The book brought limelight about abortion after abortion rights were curtailed in the US.

A Girl’s Story(2016): It was built on her own experiences at a children’s camp, that deals with the shaming an 18-year-old girl is subjected to for her sexuality.

Getting Lost (2022): It talks about her affair with a Russian diplomat, she was divorced, and he was married. It is a rare clear-eyed account of female desire.

What are the other awards and honours?

Her works overall have received the French language prize and the Marguerite Yourcenar prize.

The Quarto edition by Gallimard in 2011 published her complete works to date. Ernaux is the first woman writer to be published in this series in her lifetime.