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 ]
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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 ]
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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 ]
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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 ]
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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 ]
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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 ]
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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 ]
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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 ]
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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 ]
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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 ]
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These prolific children's book authors have written hundreds of books over decades working in the publishing industry! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-12-07 11:30:00 UTC ]
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Should historical fiction stick to the views and opinions of the time, or provide a modern perspective? Here are the pros and cons. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-12-05 11:31:00 UTC ]
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A Moncton comic book shop is selling one of the most valuable issues of Spider-Man comics out there. The Comic Hunter in Moncton is looking for $60,000 for a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2023-12-03 21:53:26 UTC ]
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Amazon Web Services (AWS) just kicked off its Las Vegas-based re:Invent conference with a stream of announcements, most of which involve the year’s most popular technology, AI. These news items, taken as a whole, give us a sneak peek at the company’s long-term goals for... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-11-28 20:00:28 UTC ]
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These bestselling manga series have sold tens of millions — and sometimes hundreds of millions — of copies worldwide! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-10-17 10:34:00 UTC ]
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Since my first novel was published, at almost every interview and live event, I get asked a version of the same question. Usually people seem just curious, but occasionally there are notes of hostility or amazement. They want to know why, and often how, I write my female protagonists. The answer... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-16 08:50:29 UTC ]
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Editor Martin Baron will discuss "Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos and the Washington Post" at L.A. Times Book Club night at USC. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-10-11 21:08:41 UTC ]
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The National Book Foundation has revealed the five finalists for the 2023 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-10-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Caldecott Medal-winning author-illustrator Ed Young, best known for his reinterpretations of folktales and legends from his native China, and evocative illustrations rendered in a range of mediums, died September 29 in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. He was 91. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-10-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
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What if you went to the bookstore and saw no one on the shelves who looked like you? One couple is addressing that deficit for young Black children, supporting literacy and identity. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2023-09-29 13:58:26 UTC ]
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This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. The sext, even more than short stories or poems or novels, is the ultimate plea for a reader’s attention. Stakes are rarely so high. John Gardner’s fictive dream is never more delicate and alive than when it’s being... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-29 08:30:13 UTC ]
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