ernals nobel literature 2022 who is what he wrote

French writer Annie Ernaux has won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature. Ernaux was among the eligible candidates, but the favorites were another famous French writer, Michel Houellebecq, and Salman Rushdie, the author of The Satanic Verses, victim of a attack in the United States. August 12.

Swedish academics honored Annie Ernaux, 82, “for the courage and clinical acumen with which she reveals the collective roots, distances and connections of personal memory”. The victory represents a “great honor” and a “responsibility”, is the writer’s first raunchy comment after the awards ceremony, during an interview on Swedish television. The committee that awards the Nobel Prize cited the book L’Occupation (2002) by Annie Ernaux to highlight the talents of the French author.

Photo Ansa / Epa Cati Cladera

In this book, the Nobel laureate analyzed “the social mythology of romantic love. Based on journal entries that record her abandonment by a lover, she confesses and attacks an image of herself built on stereotypes. Writing becomes a sharp weapon for dissecting the truth,” Swedish scholars have pointed out. Annie Ernaux was born in Lillebonne, Normandy on September 1, 1940 and is one of the most influential voices on the French cultural scene. Studied and published around the world, his work has made headlines thanks to the publisher Gallimard, which has brought together his main writings in a single volume in the prestigious Quarto series.

Ernaux, many awards have already been received

Readers regard her as a contemporary classic author. Generations of students and reading enthusiasts adore Ernaux’s writing. In Italy, L’Orma Editore published the novels Il posto, Gli anni, which won the European Prize for Witches 2016, The other girl, Memoria di ragazza. But also Una donna, winner of the 2019 Gregor von Rezzori Prize, Shame, The Event and The Frozen Woman. In 2017, the French writer received the Marguerite Yourcenar Lifetime Achievement Award, while in 2018 the Hemingway Prize for Literature. Again, in 2022, the Mondello International Literary Prize.

From left to right, Julienne Moore and Audery Diwan this year at the Venice Film Festival. Photo Ansa / Ettore Ferrari

From his book a hit film

Annie Ernaux, a high school teacher, was an activist in the feminist movement in the 1970s. In 1974 her first novel, Les Armoires vides (Gallimard), translated into Italian under the title Gli cabin vuoti and published by Rizzoli in 1996. Ten years later, in 1984, with the fourth novel, La place (Gallimard), in Italian Il posto, published by L’Orsa in 2014, won the prestigious Prix Renaudot. Through his works, Ernaux recounted personal experiences and events in his life, such as The Event, which inspired the homonymous film directed by Audrey Diwan (pictured above), Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2021.

With Annie Ernaux, France obtains its 16th Nobel Prize for Literature. The previous prize awarded to a French author was that of 2014 won by Patrick Modiano. Even earlier in 2008, it was awarded to Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio. In total, France is the country that has won the most literary Nobel Prizes in the prize’s 121-year history.

Salman Rushdie, among the favorites on the eve of winning the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature. Photo Ansa / Epa Hayoung Jeon