Annie Ernaux: The Return to Origins (Liverpool University Press - Modern French Writers)

In this first critical study in English to focus exclusively on Annie Ernaux’s writing trajectory, Siobh?n McIlvanney provides a stimulating and challenging analysis of Ernaux’s individual texts. Following a broadly feminist hermeneutic, this study engages in a series of provocative close readings of Ernaux’s works in a move to highlight the contradictions and nuances in her writing, and to demonstrate the intellectual intricacies of her literary project. By so doing, it seeks to introduce new readers to Ernaux’s works, while engaging on less familiar terrain those already familiar with her writing. In this first critical study in English to focus exclusively on Annie Ernaux's writing trajectory, Siobhan McIlvanney provides a stimulating and challenging analysis of Ernaux's individual texts. Following a broadly feminist hermeneutics, this study engages in a series of provocative close readings of Ernaux's works in a move to highlight the contradictions and nuances in her writing, and to demonstrate the intellectual intricacies of her literary project. By so doing, it seeks to introduce new readers to Ernaux's works, while engaging those already familiar with her writing on less familiar terrain.

Ernaux's writing is informed by a variety of contemporary concerns, including the categorisation of genre and its particularly fluid manifestations in the realm of autobiography; the subject position articulated by minority groups and the role played by language in identity formation; the naturalisation and consequent deconstruction of class and gender ideologies. By focusing on the textual manifestations of these concerns, and providing both a general overview of Ernaux's work and an analysis of each text's specific thematic and narrative emphases, Annie Ernaux. The Return to Origins is essential reading for those interested in French literature, and literary and cultural studies generally.

"In this study in English focusing exclusively on Annie Ernaux's writing trajectory, Siobhan McIlvanney provides a stimulating and challenging analysis of Ernaux's individual texts. Following a broadly feminist hermeneutics, this study engages in a series of provocative close readings of Ernaux's works in a move to highlight the contradictions and nuances in her writing, and to demonstrate the intellectual intricacies of her literary project. By so doing, it seeks to introduce new readers to Ernaux's works, while engaging those already familiar with her writing on less familiar terrain." "Ernaux's writing is informed by a variety of contemporary concerns, including the categorisation of genre and its particularly fluid manifestations in the realm of autobiography; the subject position articulated by minority groups and the role played by language in identity formation; the naturalisation and consequent deconstruction of class and gender ideologies. By focusing on the textual manifestations of these concerns, and providing both a general overview of Ernaux's work and an analysis of each text's specific thematic and narrative emphases, Annie Ernaux: The Return to Origins is essential reading for those interested in French literature, and literary and cultural studies generally."--Jacket Title Page......Page 4 Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgements......Page 7 List of Abbreviations......Page 8 Introduction: Con/textualising the Corpus......Page 10 1: The Early Years: Classifying Sexuality in Les Armoires vides and Ce qu’ils disent ou rien......Page 26 2: The Adult Woman: Female Behaviour Paradigms in La Femme gelée and Passion simple......Page 58 3: Writing the Auto/biographical Legacies of La Place and Une femme......Page 96 4: Self/representation through the M/other in the Diaries of ‘Je ne suis pas sortie de ma nuit’, Journal du dehors and La Vie exté rieure......Page 126 5: The Return to Origins: La Honte and L’Evénement......Page 162 Notes to Introduction......Page 186 Bibliography......Page 230 Index......Page 242 In this first critical study in English to focus exclusively on Annie Ernaux's writing trajectory, Siobhán McIlvanney provides a stimulating and challenging analysis of Ernaux's individual texts. Following a broadly feminist hermeneutic, this study engages in a series of provocative close readings of Ernaux's works in a move to highlight the contradictions and nuances in her writing, and to demonstrate the intellectual intricacies of her literary project. By so doing, it seeks to introduce new readers to Ernaux's works, while engaging on less familiar terrain those already familiar with her writing.

This critical study of Ernaux's writing trajectory analyzes her individual texts, applying a feminist hermeneutics. Highlighting the contradictions and nuances of her writing, the book provides an introduction to her work and a critical re-casting for those already familiar with it. The role of genre and autobiography, the place of language in identity formation, and the deconstruction of class and gender ideologies are particularly discussed. McIlvanney teaches French at King's College London. The book is distributed by ISBS. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

This text provides an analysis of Annie Ernaux's individual texts. It engages in a series of provocative close readings of her works to highlight the contradictions and nuances in her writing, demonstrating the intellectual intricacies of her work.