Annie Ernaux - Évek

Annie Ernaux's most successful and significant book revives the France of the second half of the last century, from the end of the Second World War, from the author's childhood to 2006, the rise of Nicolas Sarkozy, when Ernaux is already a divorced woman and the mother of two adult sons. Évek is a kind of collective, impersonal autobiography in which individual experiences are deeply embedded in social experiences, and which can be felt by an entire generation. Ernaux documents the social impact of historical events - from World War II and the Algerian War to 9/11 - as well as changes in lifestyles, attitudes and ideologies, from feminism to existentialism to the fascination with consumerism and the digital revolution. The fragments outlined in chronological order powerfully evoke long-lost moments and the passage of time, and the overall picture reveals to us the story of a life that is both intimate and well-known, banal and significant, and which is precisely why we feel familiar even if the scene of our lives is not the France of the second half of the 20th century.