I always look forward to this week. The Nobel Prize laureates of the year 2022 were announced. The winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature is Annie Ernaux. She is the 16th French person to receive the award and the 17th woman.
I haven't read anything by her, so far, but I found some quotes and they sound very promising:
"I realize that I have left part of myself in a place where I shall probably never come back." from La Honte (Shame)
"I started to make a literary being of myself, someone who lives as if her experiences were to be written down someday." from Mémoire de fille (A Girl's Story)
"Maybe the true purpose of my life is for my body, my sensations and my thoughts to become writing, in other words, something intelligible and universal, causing my existence to merge into the lives and heads of other people." from L'Èvénement (Happening)
"Sometimes I wonder if the purpose of my writing is to find out whether other people have done or felt the same things or, if not, for them to consider experiencing such things as normal. Maybe I would also like them to live out these very emotions in turn, forgetting that they had once read about them somewhere." from Passion Simple (Simple Passion)
"When I write I do not have the impression of looking inside me, I look inside a memory."
Annie Ernaux received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2022 "for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory".
I contribute to this page: Read the Nobels and you can find all my blogs about Nobel Prize winning authors and their books here.
I read in the meantime:
"Les années" (The Years) - 2008
Beautifully written! Do you listen to Charlotte Casiraghi on the Chanel YouTube channel? She is well read and speaks so eloquently about the books she read. I love listening to her.
ReplyDeleteThanks, C&B. And no, I haven't listened to Charlotte Casiraghi, I didn't even know she did that. However, I must admit, I'm not a listener. I need visuals to really get into a subject, so it's not a really great surprised I haven't heard her. I might look into it, though. Thanks for the recommendation.
DeleteI haven't read any by her either, but I'm curious to see what kind of books she writes.
ReplyDeleteThey sound highly interesting, Lark. I will try to find some or at least one of her books when in Brussels next.
DeleteLike you, I have not read anything by her. Have to do that now, of course. Recommendations are to start with The Years, so that I will do. Curious to hear what you think about her books.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lisbeth. I don't think she was that much known outside of France except for the high literary world. But I saw her name on one of the lists of supposedly suggested authors a year or two ago.
DeleteI also saw The Years recommended. I'll have to see what I will find in Brussels because I'd like to read her in French.
Congrats to Annie Ernaux for winning the Nobel Prize for Literature. I had never heard of her prior to her Nobel Prize win.
ReplyDeleteSame here, Lisa. As I said to Lisbeth, I don't think she was that well known overall. Like so many Nobel Prize winners. But I have rarely been disappointed in them.
DeleteI don't know if you enjoy listening to audiobooks or not, but Chirp Audiobooks is having a limited time deal on a few audiobooks by Annie Ernaux. I downloaded A Frozen Woman
DeleteBy Annie Ernaux for a $1.99 yesterday... So much for minimizing tsunduko!! https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks/a-frozen-woman-by-annie-ernaux
Thanks, Lisa. It's nice of you to even consider that I might not enjoy audiobooks. And I don't, I really can't concnetrate, I need the visual. Also, I would like to read them in French. I don't read many French books but if I do find one by a French author that I would like to read, I usually look for the original publication.
DeleteBut very nice that you gave that advice, I'm sure someone will like it.
Well, if I could read Annie Ernaux's novel in French like you, then that's the way I'd go for sure!
DeleteThanks, Lisa. Some people don't understand that but they never read anything in another language, so they don't see the advantage.
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