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

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]

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. 1 2 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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