The individual and the social in Annie Ernaux's autobiographical writing

This article examines the ideological and aesthetic peculiarities of autobiographical writing in “La Place” by Annie Ernaux, a well-known contemporary French writer. We argue that Annie Ernaux 's “flat writing” is close to a sociological or ethnographic study and nearly devoid of any autobiogra...

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Main Authors: Yulia A. Kosova, Elena B. Ponomarenko, Gérard Siary
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) 2020-12-01
Series:RUDN Journal of Studies in Literature and Journalism
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journals.rudn.ru/literary-criticism/article/viewFile/23613/18166
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author Yulia A. Kosova
Elena B. Ponomarenko
Gérard Siary
author_facet Yulia A. Kosova
Elena B. Ponomarenko
Gérard Siary
author_sort Yulia A. Kosova
collection DOAJ
description This article examines the ideological and aesthetic peculiarities of autobiographical writing in “La Place” by Annie Ernaux, a well-known contemporary French writer. We argue that Annie Ernaux 's “flat writing” is close to a sociological or ethnographic study and nearly devoid of any autobiographical subjectivity. Autobiographical writing is approached through the concept of symbolic violence, borrowed from the sociologist P. Bourdieu. Ernaux indeed replaces event history, a feature of autobiography, by the study of socio-historical causes of “class distancing” between father and daughter. The analysis of key concepts of the Ernaux's poetics makes it possible, on the one hand, to grasp the appearance of social and cultural alienation and, on the other hand, to achieve a social criticism of reality.
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spelling doaj.art-03b5dbe5426a4640a96986006f0455e72022-12-22T03:04:33ZengPeoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)RUDN Journal of Studies in Literature and Journalism2312-92202312-92472020-12-0125111113010.22363/2312-9220-2020-25-1-111-13018843The individual and the social in Annie Ernaux's autobiographical writingYulia A. Kosova0Elena B. Ponomarenko1Gérard Siary2Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)Paul Valéry University of MontpellierThis article examines the ideological and aesthetic peculiarities of autobiographical writing in “La Place” by Annie Ernaux, a well-known contemporary French writer. We argue that Annie Ernaux 's “flat writing” is close to a sociological or ethnographic study and nearly devoid of any autobiographical subjectivity. Autobiographical writing is approached through the concept of symbolic violence, borrowed from the sociologist P. Bourdieu. Ernaux indeed replaces event history, a feature of autobiography, by the study of socio-historical causes of “class distancing” between father and daughter. The analysis of key concepts of the Ernaux's poetics makes it possible, on the one hand, to grasp the appearance of social and cultural alienation and, on the other hand, to achieve a social criticism of reality.http://journals.rudn.ru/literary-criticism/article/viewFile/23613/18166autobiographical writingmemoryintimatesocialsociological approachsymbolic violenceflat writing
spellingShingle Yulia A. Kosova
Elena B. Ponomarenko
Gérard Siary
The individual and the social in Annie Ernaux's autobiographical writing
RUDN Journal of Studies in Literature and Journalism
autobiographical writing
memory
intimate
social
sociological approach
symbolic violence
flat writing
title The individual and the social in Annie Ernaux's autobiographical writing
title_full The individual and the social in Annie Ernaux's autobiographical writing
title_fullStr The individual and the social in Annie Ernaux's autobiographical writing
title_full_unstemmed The individual and the social in Annie Ernaux's autobiographical writing
title_short The individual and the social in Annie Ernaux's autobiographical writing
title_sort individual and the social in annie ernaux s autobiographical writing
topic autobiographical writing
memory
intimate
social
sociological approach
symbolic violence
flat writing
url http://journals.rudn.ru/literary-criticism/article/viewFile/23613/18166
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