WRITING "AU-DESSOUS DE LA LITTERATURE" : ANNIE ERNAUX

by Berger, Maureen Mahany

Annie Ernaux professes to write “au-dessous de la littérature.” (Une femme, 23) It is the aim of this paper to uncover what Ernaux means by that phrase and to examine the complexities involved in the resultant ramifications of attempting such a thing within the context of contemporary French literature. In the course of this study, I look at the issues of subjectivity, fictionality, historicity, law and language as they relate to the writings of Ernaux with the aid of critics Hélène Cixous, Jacques Derrida and Roland Barthes.