The Years

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Available in English for the first time, this astonishing, bestselling, and award-winning work by Annie Ernaux presents a personal narrative spanning 1941 to 2006. It explores memory through impressions, photos, books, songs, radio, television, and decades of advertising, all contrasted with intimate conflicts and diary notes from six decades. The text gives voice to local dialects, contemporary words, slogans, and brands, while the author's voice continually dissolves and re-emerges. Ernaux makes the passage of time palpable, as time itself narrates its course, rendering other narrators anonymous. This work introduces a new kind of autobiography that is both subjective and impersonal, blending private and collective experiences. Upon its 2008 publication in France, it surprised many, marking a departure for Ernaux, who had long been celebrated as an author. It serves as an intimate memoir "written" by generations, with the narrator shifting from "I" to "we" (or "they," or "one"), emphasizing the intertwining of collective and private lives. She reflects on her parents' generation, noting how their shared experiences of hunger and fear were expressed through impersonal pronouns, highlighting a profound connection between individual and collective narratives.