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'


Crain's 20 In Their 20s showed promise at a young age. They're living up to the hype

Brad Weekes was 25 years old and working as a senior associate at public affairs firm Kivvit when Crain's named him to the 2020 class of 20 In Their 20s. The East New York native's goal at the time: Pressure lawmakers to make positive changes.In many ways, Weekes was already doing just that. At... Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2024-03-06 20:37:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #premier league #dig deeper #book deal


Raja Shehadeh, Yiyun Li and Maria Bamford among L.A. Times Book Prize finalists

The L.A. Times Book Prizes honor 66 works in 13 categories celebrating exceptional writing from authors at all stages of their careers. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-02-21 13:00:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #yiyun li #times book


What’s Next for Max Lucado? An End Times Book

‘What Happens Next,’ coming from Thomas Nelson in August, is the first book on the biblical end times by bestselling author and pastor Max Lucado. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-02-20 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #max lucado #thomas nelson #bestselling author


Lifeway Rebounds from Rocky Times

CEO Ben Mandrell tells PW the turnaround strategy was to refocus on the original mission—serving pastors and church leaders. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-02-20 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:


‘Time-efficient foreplay’: inside the funny, filthy world of erotic podcasts

From fan fiction about Disney cartoons having sex to raunchy shows from Hollywood stars, pornographic audio is podcasting’s hottest new trendHave you ever stood at the school gates, waiting to pick up your six-year-old, while secretly listening to fan fiction about Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-02-12 16:32:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #fan fiction #hollywood stars #harry potter


4 Provocative New Surveys of Love and Sex

From racism in dating to sexual dry spells, these four new books take an, ahem, intimate look at all facets of love and relationships. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-25 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Hugh Hefner’s Widow Says He Filmed Celebs Having Sex In His Bed Without Their Consent

Crystal Hefner writes in her new memoir that she confronted her late husband about “little spy holes” in his bedroom. Continue reading at HuffPost

[ HuffPost | 2024-01-23 23:35:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #hugh hefner #late husband #memoir


No charges laid after man in 'state of crisis' tries to open door mid-flight on Air Canada plane: police

Police said the passenger attempted to open a door, which can't be done at cruising altitude. He was restrained by Air Canada employees during the flight as part of their safety protocols and met with officers once the plane landed at Pearson International Airport shortly after 3 p.m. Continue reading at CBC

[ CBC | 2024-01-21 22:50:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #pearson


Call of Duty didn’t top the yearly sales charts for one of the first times since 2009

Just like death and taxes, you can usually rely on a Call of Duty game to top the sales charts each year. The various entries in Activision’s warfare simulation franchise have mostly done just that, going all the way back to 2009. This year’s a bit different. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III has... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2024-01-18 19:16:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #hogwarts legacy #holiday season #harry potter


Katherine Min was ahead of her time. Four years after her death, her second novel proves it

Katherine Min's Korean American debut novel was ignored. After she died in 2019, publishers worked to put out her second novel, 'The Fetishist.' Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-01-18 11:00:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #debut novel


A Path Older Than Memory

Emergence Magazine is an online publication with annual print edition exploring the threads connecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. As we experience the desecration of our lands and waters, the extinguishing of species, and a loss of sacred connection to the Earth, we look to emerging... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-01-16 09:02:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #emerging stories #emergence magazine #online publication #sacred connection #narrated essays


Avid Reader Bets Big on Kaliane Bradley's 'The Ministry of Time'

An inside look at the debut speculative novel so charming that Avid Reader Press executive editor Margo Shickmanter preempted it from her bathtub. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-16 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:


Book Review: ‘Burn Man: Selected Stories,’ by Mark Anthony Jarman

The anthology “Burn Man” selects from decades of Mark Anthony Jarman’s work, bringing the writer’s lush and searing stories to new readers. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2024-01-14 10:00:16 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #selected stories #anthology


AI: Copyright Challenges Now Include a New York Times Lawsuit

The newly launched lawsuit of OpenAI and Microsoft by The New York Times parallels legal actions from the book publishing industry. The post AI: Copyright Challenges Now Include a New York Times Lawsuit appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2024-01-04 19:59:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #post ai #book publishing


Salman Rushdie's upcoming memoir delays trial of man charged in 2022 stabbing

The trial of the man suspected in the near-fatal stabbing of Salman Rushdie has been delayed because of the writer's upcoming memoir about the knife attack. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-01-04 01:09:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #salman rushdie #man charged #upcoming memoir #knife attack #memoir


Book Review: ‘A Hitch in Time,’ by Christopher Hitchens

This bracing anthology of Christopher Hitchens’s work for The London Review of Books is just the ticket. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2024-01-01 10:02:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #christopher hitchens #london review #anthology


'New York Times' Sues OpenAI, Microsoft for Copyright Infringement

The suit, said to be the first AI-related action filed by a major American media company, alleges that AI services from both multibillion dollar companies are businesses “built on mass copyright infringement,” with potentially massive implications for the future of journalism. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-12-27 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #copyright infringement


Colm Tóibín! Geraldine Brooks! A guide to killing time! 19 books out in paperback this January.

2o24 is approaching! It’s hard to believe that 2023 is over, but a new year means new possibilities (always), new resolutions (maybe), and new books (once again, always). But it also means a new chance to pick up some excellent reads from 2023 that you might have missed when they first came out,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-12-22 14:01:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #colm tibn #geraldine brooks


The Memories of Streets: A Reading List of NYC Books That Capture the City’s Many Sides

By instinct and intention, I have been reading books about New York or set in New York since I was a kid. Each one uncovers a facet of the city. Together they form my picture of the life that is hidden inside its buildings or around the corner. Some of these titles, I read when […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-12-14 09:51:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #reading books


California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick opens up and performs at the L.A. Times Book Club

On Dec. 12, California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick talks about life on the road at the L.A. Times Book Club. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-12-12 20:24:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #times book