The Years (Ernaux book)

The Years (French: Les Années) is a 2008 non-fiction book by Annie Ernaux. It has been described as a "hybrid" memoir, spanning the period of 1941 to 2006.[1][2][3] Ernaux's English publisher, Seven Stories Press, described it as an autobiography that is "at once subjective and impersonal, private and collective."[3]

The Years
Collection Blanche cover (first edition)
AuthorAnnie Ernaux
Original titleLes Années
TranslatorAlison L. Strayer
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
GenreMemoir
PublisherÉditions Gallimard
Publication date
7 February 2008
Published in English
2017
Media typePrint
Pages256
ISBN978-2-07-077922-2
OCLC192081505
843/.914 B
LC ClassPQ2665.R67 Z46 2008

Synopsis

In the book, Ernaux writes about herself in the third person (elle, or "she" in English) for the first time, providing a vivid look at French society just after the Second World War until the early 2000s.[4] It is the moving social story of a woman and of the evolving society she lived in. With this feature of book, Edmund White described it as a "collective autobiography", in his review for The New York Times.[3]

Reception

The Years was very well received by French critics and is considered by many to be her magnum opus.[5]

It won the 2008 Françoise-Mauriac Prize of the Académie française, the 2008 Marguerite Duras Prize,[6] the 2008 French Language Prize, the 2009 Télégramme Readers Prize, and the 2016 Premio Strega Europeo Prize. Translated by Alison L. Strayer, The Years was a Finalist for the 31st Annual French-American Foundation Translation Prize.

Alison L. Strayer's English translation was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2019.[7]

References

  1. Schwartz, Madeleine (13 April 2020). "A Memoirist Who Mistrusts Her Own Memories". The New Yorker. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  2. Elkin, Lauren (22 June 2018). "The Years by Annie Ernaux review – a masterpiece memoir of French life". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  3. White, Edmund (19 January 2018). "Reclaiming the Past in the Internet's 'Infinite Present'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  4. Laurin, Danielle (3 April 2008). "Autobiographie : Les années: le livre d'une vie" (in French). Radio-Canada. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
  5. Peras, Delphine (11 February 2010). "Les Années par Annie Ernaux". L'EXPRESS (in French). Archived from the original on 29 October 2010. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
  6. "Prix Marguerite Duras". Association Marguerite Duras (in French). Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  7. "Annie Ernaux | The Booker Prizes". thebookerprizes.com. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
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