Sex, Time, and Memory: Annie Ernaux’s Young Man, by Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee

Sex, Time, and Memory: Annie Ernaux’s Young Man, by Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee Book Reviews [email protected] Mon, 08/21/2023 - 15:04   The Young Man—forthcoming from Seven Stories in September 2023—is Annie Ernaux’s first novel in English translation after receiving the most coveted honor in literature, the Nobel Prize in Literature, in October 2022 (see WLT’s review of Le Jeune Homme, May 2023, 73). A slim book of autofiction, translated by Alison Strayer, it is a few pages shorter than Simple Passion (1991), her shortest book so far. With deft terseness, Ernaux recounts her short relationship with a student thirty years younger than her. The epigraph reiterates the raison d’être of her writing: living is incomplete without evaluating life’s experiences. Life is spontaneous facticity, spent in accordance with one’s desires and impulses. Writing throws new light on life. It unearths, as Ernaux puts it in The Girl’s Story (2016), something that is irreducible to any singular explanation. In a startling sentence at the beginning of The Young Man, Ernaux equates writing with the need and possibility of overcoming “the fatigue, the dereliction” of sex and the violence of orgasm. She feels writing brings “greater pleasure” than sex, because it doesn’t abandon you to a postcoital void. It is reminiscent of Roland Barthes’s idea of body-writing in The Pleasure of the Text (1973), of writing as a fragmented overcoming of... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2023-08-21 20:04:48 UTC ]
News tagged with: #formative years #shaky ground #young man #first novel

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Sex, Time, and Memory: Annie Ernaux’s Young Man, by Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee'


Moving Quickly At Bettie Youngs Books

When talking business with Bettie Youngs, publisher of Bettie Youngs Books, you’ll quickly get an idea of the scale of her ambition, as you’ll hear a lot of numbers. She wrote her first book in graduate school and has since authored 36 books, and now, at BYBooks, seven of her company’s last 12... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-10-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Heinemann buys début by Times columnist

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 21/10/2011 - 10:31 William Heinemann has bought a début novel by Times columnist Sathnam Sanghera about three generations of the same family and their Wolverhampton corner shop. Publisher Jason Arthur bought UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #times columnist #sarah chalfant #wylie agency #windmill paperback


Julian Barnes wins the Man Booker

Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Tue, 18/10/2011 - 20:00 Julian Barnes has won the Man Booker Prize for his novel The Sense of an Ending (Cape). The author beat a shortlist comprising Carol Birch's Jamrach's Menagerie (Canongate); Esi Edugyan's Half Blood Blues (Serpent's Tail);... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #man booker #ending cape #esi edugyan #snowdrops atlantic


Fisher first Wales' Young People's Poet Laureate

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 18/10/2011 - 08:00 Fantasy children’s author Catherine Fisher will be officially named Wales’ first Young People’s Poet Laureate later today (18th October). The Newport writer will be given the title by Literature Wales, which was established in... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Boos: Now is the time for start-ups

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 17/10/2011 - 09:28 The director of the Frankfurt Book Fair has said start-ups will capitalise on the trade, as the organisers revealed exhibitor numbers were down 2.1% on 2010. In total, 7,384 exhibitors from 106 countries attended last week's... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kate Manning moves from HC to Hot Key

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 17/10/2011 - 09:18 Hot Key Books has hired HarperCollins' head of children's sales as its new sales and marketing director. Kate Manning will join the publisher on 2nd January 2012 and will be responsible for a fiction list comprising between 30... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes bookies' and Kindle favourite for Man Booker

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 17/10/2011 - 14:30 Julian Barnes is the bookies' favourite to win the Man Booker prize tomorrow night (18th October), as Amazon has revealed his novel The Sense of an Ending is also leading Kindle downloads among the shortlisted authors.... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Time Inc.’s Real Simple App Launches First on NOOK

The NOOK Newsstand is getting another addition, Time Inc. has announced that Real Simple magazine will be exclusively sold on the digital platform for the month of November and will begin a full digital integration with the December issue. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-10-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Financial Times To Fold Paid Online News Service Tilt

The Financial Times will close FT Tilt, a premium online financial news and analysis service for finance professionals in emerging markets, at the end of October. "We propose to close FT Tilt at the end of October," an FT spokesperson told FOLIO:. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-10-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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College Bookstores in Dynamic Times

The digital transition and sputtering economy are not only bringing changes to general bookstores, but to college bookstores as well. College stores are dealing with a changed landscape of their own: more textbook choices that now include rentals and digital texts; trade book sections with sales... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Time Inc. Launches PinPoint For Ad Clients

As advertising clients continue to tighten the grip on their change purses, publishers are concocting solutions to show the value of their content, sites and magazines as an advertising platform. Meredith launched a ROI guarantee for select print advertisers in August, and now Time Inc. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Is POD Ready for Prime Time?

HarperCollins's announcement that it will make 5,000 backlist titles available through On Demand Books' Espresso Book Machine in November—with Zondervan and HarperCollins Canada titles to be added early next year—brings a print-on-demand tipping point a step closer, but with more hurdles to... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Man Booker teams up with iBookstore

Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Wed, 28/09/2011 - 08:45 The Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2011 is to host an event at the Apple Store in Covent Garden, London, as it links up with the iBookstore. Shortlisted authors Carol Birch, Patrick deWitt and A D Miller will take part in the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #apples ibookstore #apple store #covent garden #patrick dewitt #13th october #shortlisted titles #audio format #shortlisted authors


Bragg to judge Sunday Times short story prize

Publication Date: Mon, 26/09/2011 - 11:59 Broadcaster and author Melvyn Bragg is to join the judging panel for the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award for a second year in a row. Bragg will be joined by actor Ian Hart, playwright and novelist Hanif Kureishi, novelist Joanna Trollope... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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2011 Man Booker shortlist most popular ever

Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Fri, 23/09/2011 - 08:10 Sales of the six novels in contention for the 2011 Man Booker Prize have totalled 37,500 copies across all print editions since the shortlist was announced, making it the most popular Booker shortlist since records began. Sales... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin to publish Neil Young memoir

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 20/09/2011 - 14:40 Neil Young has become the latest rock legend to sell his autobiography, with Viking buying UK rights to the former Buffalo Springfield guitarist's life story. Publishing director Tony Lacey acquired the title, currently... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Social Networks, Blogs Account For Πof Time Americans Spend on Web

It appears social media is no longer a trend among internet users, but a convention. In a new report from Nielsen, social media behavior among Americans is tracked, demonstrating how much pull social media actually has among web surfers. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-09-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales surge for Man Booker shortlist books

Written By: Tom Tivnan Publication Date: Tue, 13/09/2011 - 16:30 A D Miller and Carol Birch's novels are the big winners of the Man Booker Prize shortlist so far, with sales across the six books surging 290% by volume on last week. The six books on the list shifted 18,496 copies for the week... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Time Out appoints new editor-in-chief

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 08/09/2011 - 08:30 Tim Arthur has been appointed the UK editor-in-chief of the Time Out media group. Arthur will oversee the editorial and content of the group's UK activities, including the Time Out guidebook series and Time Out London... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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NOOK Newsstand Adds More Titles From Meredith and Time Inc.

The NOOK Newsstand for Barnes & Noble’s e-reader offering NOOK has added more titles from Meredith and Time Inc. to its periodical roster. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-08-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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