Annie Ernaux, Class, Gender and Whiteness: Finding a Place in the French Feminist Canon?

Abstract

This article attempts to identify the innovative qualities of the writing of Annie Ernaux, and their continuing relevance for feminisms. It discusses both the new literary forms and styles she creates, and the extent to which her writing contributes to the work of intersectionality in its representation of class, gender, sexuality, ‘race’ and ethnicity. The exceptional nature of Ernaux's foregrounding of social class in the French context, and its troubling nature, perhaps in a broader sense, is discussed through an analysis of its impact on the shape and style of the writing. There is some discussion of Ernaux's popularity in France as a writer and of the critical attention she receives in France and in university French departments abroad. The article raises the question of Ernaux's absence from the canon of French feminist works created by anglophone feminist theorists, and taken up by university departments of English and critical theory.

Keywords:

• Annie Ernaux
• French feminisms
• intersectionality
• class

Notes

¹ For a discussion of the reception of Ernaux's work see Charpentier (1994) and Thomas (1999, 2005). For evidence and an account of recent interest in Ernaux's work in France see Thumerel (2004).

² The work of Carolyn Steedman, Pat Barker or collections such as Truth, Dare or Promise would be illustrative of this point (Steedman, 1986; Barker, 1986; Heron, 1985).

³ In general, where a translation of the work has been published it is listed in the reference section and I use the published translation title in my text. There are two exceptions, where I prefer, and have used, my own rendering: Life Event for L'événement, and ‘My Night is Not Over’ for ‘Je ne suis pas sortie de ma nuit’. Translations of all quotations and of unpublished titles are mine.