Author Annie Ernaux wins Nobel Prize for 'courage' and 'acuity'
Annie Ernaux of France has won this year鈥檚 Nobel Prize in literature for her ability to chronicle events in her life and the lives of those around her. Ms. Ernaux is the 17th woman to win a Nobel Prize in literature, out of 119 total laureates.
French author Annie Ernaux poses for a photo, March 17, 2019, in Paris. The 2022 Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to Ms. Ernaux, making her the 17th woman to win a Nobel Prize in literature.
Laurent Benhamou/SIPA/AP
Stockholm
French author Annie Ernaux, who mined her own biography to explore life in France since the 1940s, was awarded this year鈥檚 Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday for work that illuminates murky corners of memory, family, and society.
The Swedish Academy said Ms. Ernaux was recognized for 鈥渢he courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements, and collective restraints of personal memory.鈥� She is the first French literature laureate since Patrick Modiano in 2014.
Ms. Ernaux told Swedish broadcaster SVT by telephone that the award was 鈥渁 great honor鈥� and 鈥渁 very great responsibility.鈥�
Ms. Ernaux started out writing autobiographical novels, but quickly abandoned fiction in favor of memoirs.
Anders Olsson, chairman of the Nobel literature committee, said Ms. Ernaux had used the term 鈥渁n ethnologist of herself鈥� rather than a writer of fiction.
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.
Mr. Olsson said Ms. Ernaux鈥檚 work was often 鈥渦ncompromising and written in plain language, scraped clean.鈥�
鈥淪he has achieved something admirable and enduring,鈥� he told reporters after the announcement in Stockholm, Sweden.
Ms. Ernaux describes her style as 鈥渇lat writing鈥� 鈥� aiming for a very objective view of the events she is describing, unshaped by florid description or overwhelming emotions.
In the book that made her name, 鈥淟a Place鈥� (A Man鈥檚 Place), about her relationship with her father, she writes: 鈥淣o lyrical reminiscences, no triumphant displays of irony. This neutral writing style comes to me naturally.鈥�
Her 2000 novel 鈥淗appening,鈥� depicts the consequences of illegal abortion.
Her most critically acclaimed book is 鈥淭he Years鈥� (Les ann茅es), published in 2008 and describing herself and wider French society from the end of World War II to the present day. Unlike in previous books, in 鈥淭he Years,鈥� Ms. Ernaux writes about herself in the third person, calling her character 鈥渟he鈥� rather than 鈥淚鈥�. The book received numerous awards and honors.
鈥淎 Girl鈥檚 Story,鈥� from 2016, follows a young woman鈥檚 coming of age in the 1950s.
Ms. Ernaux is just the 17th woman among the 119 Nobel literature laureates. Last year鈥檚 winner, Tanzanian-born, U.K.-based writer Abdulrazak Gurnah, was only the sixth Nobel literature laureate born in Africa, and the prize has long faced criticism that it is too focused on European and North American writers, as well as too male-dominated.
鈥淲e try first of all to broaden the scope of the Nobel Prize, but our focus must be on literary quality,鈥� Mr. Olsson said.
The prizes to Mr. Gurnah in 2021 and U.S. poet Louise Gl眉ck in 2020 helped the literature prize move on from years of controversy and scandal.
In 2018, the award was postponed after sex abuse allegations rocked the Swedish Academy, which names the Nobel literature committee, and sparked an exodus of members. The academy revamped itself but faced more criticism for giving the 2019 literature award to Austria鈥檚 Peter Handke, who has been called an apologist for Serbian war crimes.
A week of Nobel Prize announcements kicked off Monday with Swedish scientist Svante P盲盲bo receiving the award in medicine for unlocking secrets of Neanderthal DNA that provided key insights into our immune system.
Three scientists jointly won the prize in physics Tuesday. Frenchman Alain Aspect, American John F. Clauser, and Austrian Anton Zeilinger had shown that tiny particles can retain a connection with each other even when separated, a phenomenon known as quantum entanglement, that can be used for specialized computing and to encrypt information.
The Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded Wednesday to Americans Carolyn R. Bertozzi and K. Barry Sharpless, and Danish scientist Morten Meldal for developing a way of 鈥渟napping molecules together鈥� that can be used to explore cells, map DNA, and design drugs that can target diseases such as cancer more precisely.
The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday and the economics award on Monday.
The prizes carry a cash award of 10 million Swedish kronor (nearly $900,000) and will be handed out on Dec. 10. The money comes from a bequest left by the prize鈥檚 creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, in 1895.
This story was reported by The Associated Press.聽Frank Jordans reported from Berlin and Jill Lawless from London. Naomi Koppel in London contributed.