Saturday, March 23, 2019

THE YEARS


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The Years, Annie Ernaux, Seven Stories Press, 2017, 231 pp (originally published by Editions Gallimard, Paris, France, 2008; translated from the French by Allison L Strayer.)
 
I read this because it is a memoir. I read memoirs and autobiographies as aids to the book I am writing, either a memoir or an autobiography depending on which day you ask. When I first heard about The Years, I learned that this acclaimed French writer covers her life against a background of social and political French life, comparing and relating her passages to those events. I am attempting a similar feat.

Unlike myself, Annie Ernaux is exemplary in her brevity. She manages to compress 1941 to 2006 into just a bit over 200 pages. Reading the book was like watching a newsreel, barreling through her upbringing, her schooling and her adult life, complete with the major news, the literature, music, movies and changing styles and mores.

At times she is remembering her world by looking outside herself, other times by recalling her emotions and observations. Since I have never lived in France, many of the cultural bits were outside my experience. That problem was eased by the fact that we have both been through these changes simply by living in the world during almost the same decades.

She often mentions Simone de Beauvoir, Sartre, and other French authors I have read, making me feel more at home. I have read from those authors about the German occupation during WWII, the resistance, the Algerian War, the involvement of French intellectuals and youth with socialism and communism. New to me though was what has happened in France from the 1970s on.

The book was a great boost to my own writing project. Unless other readers are interested in mid 20th century French life, it might be less interesting. If you have visited France over the years though, it is an inside look into changes you may have noticed.

Just as I was reading it, The Years was included on the long list for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize, another bonus for book nerds.
 
 

18 comments:

  1. Sounds like this memoir was helpful in your aid to write your own memoir.

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  2. Sounds interesting. I've become increasingly hooked on biographies in recent years and I have a great interest in France - being just 26 miles away and all! I've been there a few times and really liked the obvious cultural changes from what I'm used to. The language took a 'little' getting used to but I got by. I'm sure I'd have improved if I was there long enough and *had* to speak French!

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    1. She has a finger on the pulse of much that has happened in France.

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  3. I think that my wife would like this a lot as she tends to read and enjoy books related to French society and culture.

    Personally I have not read a lot of memoirs but would like to read more. This one sounds very good. Ernaux Sounds like she has a lot to say about a lot of important issues and events.

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    1. This book would be a good introduction to memoirs. An example of "the personal is political" and vice versa.

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  4. What an interesting and quite accurate title for a memoir - The Years.

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    1. Yes, that title pretty much sums it up.

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  5. I've never been really clear about the difference between a memoir and an autobiography. How do you see the difference?

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    1. Karen! You made it over and even managed to leave a comment. I am so excited to have your words here. As far as your question goes, I think it is a gray area. Supposedly a memoir is about a portion of the writer's life while an autobiography is about the whole life. What the publishers decide to call it is a mystery to me.

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  6. How great that you are in the process of your own memoir. Mine would be rather dull - LOL

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    1. So far, I am writing mine to leave for my descendants and to keep my family story alive. It is not as brutal as some but I have had a good share of excitement-:)

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  7. It's good that the author managed to be insightful yet brief at the same time. It sounds like a very good memoir.

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    1. You can bet I was studying how she did that!

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  8. When do you think you'll be done with your writing project? We all are looking forward to it. This book sounds a bit interesting, but I wonder if it would be so outside my realm there in France, I'd be lost?

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    1. I may never be done! I am heading for at least a first draft of my first 20 years in the foreseeable future but who knows what pitfalls await me. There are some early chapters on the blog if you want to check that out. They probably won't survive later edits but there they are. Here is a link to the first one: http://keepthewisdom.blogspot.com/2005/12/reading-for-my-life-1940.html
      As far as The Years go, I was lost for parts of it but amazed by the similarities to changes in the US. Your choice.

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  9. Nice review, I can't wait to hear more about your own memoir/autobiography!

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