The Years
by Annie Ernaux, translated by Alison L. Strayer
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Pub Date 20 Oct 2022 | Archive Date 9 Feb 2023
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Description
Shortlisted for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize | Winner of the 2019 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation | Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2022
Considered by many to be the iconic French memoirist’s defining work, The Years is a narrative of the period 1941 to 2006 told through the lens of memory, impressions past and present, cultural habits, language, photos, books, songs, radio, television, advertising and news headlines. Annie Ernaux invents a form that is subjective and impersonal, private and communal, and a new genre – the collective autobiography – in order to capture the passing of time. The Years is a monumental account of twentieth-century French history as refracted through the life of one woman.
For fans of Joan Didion, Deborah Levy and Édouard Louis.
A Note From the Publisher
This is the new trade edition.
Advance Praise
The White Review Books of the Year 2018 | The Year in Literature: frieze | New Statesman Books of the Year 2020
‘The Years is a revolution, not only in the art of autobiography but in art itself. Annie Ernaux’s book blends memories, dreams, facts and meditations into a unique evocation of the times in which we lived, and live.’
— John Banville, author of Mrs Osmond
*
‘I’ve just finished Happening by Annie Ernaux, in which she writes about her experience of unwanted pregnancy and illegal abortion in 1960s France. The Years was one of my favourite reads of last year and that same rigorous clarity of vision – even when dealing with the complex or ambiguous – is just as evident here again. The experience of living simultaneously on the inside and outside of your own body is very particular to the female experience I think – and not only in relation to pregnancy but in myriad other ways too. I like the measured, unforgiving way she works her way through the logic, or illogic, of that. I find her work extraordinary.’
— Eimear McBride, author of A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing
*
‘One of the best books you’ll ever read.’
— Deborah Levy, author of Hot Milk
*
‘The author of one of the most important oeuvres in French literature, Annie Ernaux’s work is as powerful as it is devastating, as subtle as it is seething.’
— Edouard Louis, author of The End of Eddy
*
‘Ravishing and almost oracular with insight, Ernaux’s prose performs an extraordinary dance between collective and intimate, “big” history and private experience. The Years is a philosophical meditation paced as a rollercoaster ride through the decades. How we spend ourselves too quickly, how we reach for meaning but evade it, how to live, how to remember – these are Ernaux’s themes. I am desperate for more.’
— Kapka Kassabova, author of Border
*
‘The technique is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. She illuminates a person through the culture that poured through her; it’s about time and being situated in a certain place in history and how time and place make a person. It’s incredible.’
— Sheila Heti, author of Motherhood
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781804270523 |
| PRICE | £8.99 (GBP) |
Featured Reviews
Daniel H, Reviewer
The Years – Annie Ernaux (translated from French by Alison L Strayer)
“All the images will disappear. ‘Thousands of words, the ones used to name things, faces, acts and feelings, to put the world in order, make the heart beat and the sex grow moist, will suddenly be nullified.”
Huge thank you to @fitzcarraldoeditions and @netgalley for giving me the opportunity to add to my Ernaux reading experience!
And what an experience this was. Having read books like “Happening” and “A Simple Passion”, I was not at all prepared for The Years. Whilst both those books and accompanying diaries are laser-focused, deeply personal affairs, “The Years” for me seemed to be attempting to tell the story of an entire generation, yet somehow also making it deeply personal as well.
Is such a thing even possible? Remarkably, yes – this short but dense book manages to cover 60 years of both personal memories and a shifting society, a generation born in the rubble of WWII and watching seismic changes in the world around them. Ernaux uses “we” or “they” throughout, melding her own experiences of sexual awakening, her family life and the advancement of her writing. I really enjoyed allusions to other events covered in more detail in her other works – her reference to learning Russian connects to “A Simple Passion”, her mother’s deteriorating health covered heartbreakingly in “I Remain in Darkness”.
The style is fascinating: a mix of colloquialisms, slogans from the time, song lyrics and film references mixed with photos and other aids to memory, both personal and cultural. Again, it’s that mix of the individual and the collective, the personal and the group, that really made this such a unique reading experience for me.
I loved this, but I’ve really enjoyed everything that Ernaux has published. My only reservation is whether you should start your Ernaux journey with this, or one of her more condensed and focused works, something like “Happening” or “A Simple Passion”. That said , this is an amazing book, and one of the best things I’ve read this year. Go out and get it.
Have you read Ernaux yet? Do you have a favourite?
Librarian 431790
I never read Annie Ernaux before and I was a bit wary as it could have been a very sophisticated and dry book.
i was wrong: it's a memoir that talks about a collective experience, makes you think and remember similar experiences.
An excellent book, a great storyteller.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine
Charlotte R, Reviewer
The Years is a narrative period of Annie Ernaux's life from 1941 to 2006. Having never having read anything by the author before I was intrigued; however, the style of writing did take me a few pages to get into the style of writing but then I read the book in one sitting. Interesting and evocative of each chapter of the author's life; now I'd like to read more of her work.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review
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