Description: Winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature
"Annie Ernaux's work," wrote Richard Bernstein in the New York Times, "represents a severely pared-down Proustianism, a testament to the persistent, haunting and melancholy quality of memory." In the New York Times Book Review, Kathryn Harrison concurred: "Keen language and unwavering focus allow her to penetrate deep, to reveal pulses of love, desire, remorse." In this "journal" Ernaux turns her penetrating focus on those points in life where the everyday and the extraordinary intersect, where "things seen" reflect a private life meeting the larger world. From the war crimes tribunal in Bosnia to social issues such as poverty and AIDS; from the state of Iraq to the world's contrasting reactions to Princess Diana's death and the starkly brutal political murders that occurred at the same time; from a tear-gas attack on the subway to minute interactions with a clerk in a store: Ernaux's thought-provoking observations map the world's fleeting and lasting impressions on the shape of inner life.Brief description: Annie Ernaux, winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature, was born in 1940 in Lillebonne, France. Her novels have won many awards and recognitions, including the 2008 Marguerite Duras Prize and the Prix Renaudot, and three of her novels have been named New York Times Notable Books. She is also the author of Things Seen (Nebraska, 2010).
Review Quotes: "La Vie extérieure bears witness to the desire, the need to capture life, even the insignificant. It attests to the memory that we have of others, including strangers, and in whom Annie Ernaux searches for and recognizes herself. La Vie extérieure is also a book of assessment and indignation. The writer reacts to human distress, war, poverty, and to the arrogance of power."--Johanne Jarry, Le Devoir (Montreal)-- (9/28/2009 12:00:00 AM)