Nobel Prize in literature goes to French writer Annie Ernaux

The Royal Swedish Academy on Thursday awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in literature to French writer Annie Ernaux for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory. 

“BREAKING NEWS: The 2022 #NobelPrize in Literature is awarded to the French author Annie Ernaux for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory,” the official Twitter handle of The Nobel Prize said. “French writer Annie Ernaux – awarded the 2022 #NobelPrize in Literature – was born in 1940 and grew up in the small town of Yvetot in Normandy, where her parents had a combined grocery store and cafe. Her path to authorship was long and arduous,” the tweet added. 

The Nobel Prize laureate, in her writing consistently and from different angles examines a life marked by strong disparities regarding gender, language and class. She has written over 30 literary works. 

In ‘L’occupation’ (2002) Ernaux dissects the social mythology of romantic love. On the basis of notes in a diary recording her abandonment by a lover, she both confesses and attacks a self-image built on stereotypes. Writing becomes a sharp weapon for dissecting truth. 

Ernaux has said that writing is a political act, opening our eyes to social inequality. For this purpose she uses language as “a knife”, as she calls it, to tear apart the veils of imagination. 

With great courage and clinical acuity, Annie Ernaux reveals the agony of the experience of class, describing shame, humiliation, jealousy or inability to see who you are, she has achieved something admirable and enduring. 

The Nobel Prize laureate Ernaux believes in the liberating force of writing. Her work is uncompromising and written in plain language, scraped clean. 

And when she with great courage and clinical acuity reveals the agony of the experience of class, describing shame, humiliation, jealousy or inability to see who you are, she has achieved something admirable and enduring. 

Last year, Tanzanian author Abdulrazak Gurnah won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in 1948 and growing up on the island of Zanzibar, Gurnah has published ten novels and a number of short stories. The theme of the refugee’s disruption runs throughout his work. He began writing as a 21-year-old in English exile, and although Swahili was his first language, English became his literary tool.