Who is French writer Annie Ernaux, who bagged Nobel Prize 2022? Know her remarkable works on sexual encounters, abortion

French author Annie Ernaux was awarded this year's Nobel Prize in literature for her works that have highlighted several tragic yet impactful parts of her life. As per the Swedish Academy, Ernaux’s works display “courage and clinical acuity.”

The French author was awarded this honour by the Norwegian Nobel Committee “for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory”, according to the official website of Nobel Prize 2022.

Know all about Annie Ernaux and her remarkable works

Annie Ernaux is an 82-year-old French writer and a literature professor who comes from a working-class background. Though her education focused on being a school teacher, she directed a lot of her focus on writing, but quickly abandoned fiction in favour of memoirs.

Her more than 20 books, most of them very short, chronicle events in her life and the lives of those around her. They present uncompromising portraits of sexual encounters, abortion, illness, and the deaths of her parents.

Ernaux describes her style as “flat writing” (ecriture plate), a very objective view of the events she is describing, unshaped by florid description or overwhelming emotions.

In the book that made her name, “La Place” (A Man's Place), about her relationship with her father, she writes: “No lyrical reminiscences, no triumphant displays of irony. This neutral writing style comes to me naturally.”

The most critically acclaimed book written by Annie Ernaux has been ‘The Years’ (Les Annees), where she focused on how the French society, along with herself, functioned during World War II. She wrote about her character in the third person while recounting a lot of personal experiences, which led to the book receiving multiple awards.

Many of Annie’s works have been translated into English and have received worldwide praise. Last year, the Nobel Prize in literature went to the Tanzanian-born, UK-based writer Abdulrazak Gurnah, whose novels explore the impact of migration on individuals and societies.

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