Booklover — A New Nobel Laureate in Literature

Column Editor: Donna Jacobs (Retired, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425) <donna.jacobs55@gmail.com>

In acknowledgement “for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory,” the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Annie Ernaux.

Fall is a season when the air cools; the leaves display vibrant colors; apples and pumpkins are everywhere; and the Nobel Committee announces the new laureates. A bit of something for everyone. Now the fun starts. Finding a piece of the new Laureate’s work to read is always an adventure. Fortunately for me the Internet provides a rich source of background, book purchasing sites, and reviews. I’m always intrigued with the “reason” for the award featured on the Nobel Prize website. Will I see that reason when I read one of the author’s works?

First — check the local library to see if any of Ernaux’s books are in the collection. One. And it is “On Order.” I place a hold for Getting Lost. I’m 15th in the queue. I can’t wait to dive into this book because of the description provided on the Goodreads website – (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60246617getting-lost). “Getting Lost is the diary kept by Annie Ernaux during the year and a half she had a secret love affair with a younger, married man, an attaché to the Soviet embassy in Paris. Her novel, Simple Passion, was based on this affair, but here her writing is immediate and unfiltered. In these diaries it is 1989 and Annie is divorced with two grown sons, living in the suburbs of Paris and nearing fifty.” It appears from this short review that one will trip over the reason for the award described by the Nobel Committee while reading this book.

Next — a search through Abe Books, Alibris, Amazon. After a bit of deliberation, I decide to download the Kindle edition of The Years while I wait to advance in the library queue. As it turns out, an excellent choice as it sets things up nicely for when Getting Lost becomes available. Les Années ( The Years ) published in 2008 is viewed by many as her greatest work. The accolades are lengthy (2008 Prix François-Mauriac de la région Aquitaine, the 2008 Marguerite Duras Prize, the 2008 Prix de la langue française, 2009 Télégramme Readers Prize, 2016 Strega European Prize, and 2019 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation) for this intriguing piece written in the third person, all in one string of conscientiousness, and beautifully, sensitively translated by Alison L. Strayer. The reader is provided an evolving raw retrospective from post World War II to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Ernaux’s description of a relevant photograph sets the stage for each story in its time and place. The photograph provides a window; her words pull back the curtain and the reader becomes the voyeur in her life.

Now — a bit about Annie Ernaux.

Born in Lillebonne Normandy in 1940 of working-class parents, Ernaux decided to travel to work as an au pair before pursuing studies to qualify as a teacher. Her initiation into the literary world was her autobiographic approach to her own illegal abortion in Cleaned Out in 1974. The literary prizes began pouring in by 1984, culminating in the Nobel award this fall. It goes without saying that the best discovery is to seek out one of her books as she provides an award winning autobiographical experience.

As I read The Years on my Kindle app, it was easy to highlight each passage as it resonated with me. There are so many to share. I leave you with two:

“The distance that separates past from present can be measured, perhaps, by the light that spills across the ground between shadows, slips over faces, outlines the folds of a dress — by the twilight clarity of a black-andwhite photo, no matter what time it is.”

“There was no ineffable world that leapt out from inspired words, as if by magic, and she would never write except from inside her language, which is everyone’s language, the only tool she’s ever intended on using to act upon the things that outraged her.”

At the end of The Years we are offered a “Translator’s Note” from Strayer, a bit of a guide. I’m glad it came at the end. The “Note” reinforced the experience instead of influencing it.

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