A. Ernaux, Writing as a Knife - Writers: Biography, Letters and Memoirs

French Literature Reviews - 2026

A. Ernaux, Writing as a Knife
Writers: Biography, Letters and Memoirs

Writing as a Knife
By Annie Ernaux
Frédéric-Yves Jeannet (Interviewer)

Published on: October 27, 2011
Publisher: Gallimard (Editions)
Series: Folio
ISBN: 978-2-07-044008-5
EAN: 9782070440085
No. of pages: 148 pages

4.85€

Publisher's price: 5.10€

"I import into literature something hard, heavy, even violent, linked to the living conditions and the language of the world that was completely mine until I was eighteen, a working-class and peasant world.
Always something real. I feel that writing is the best thing I can do, in my case, in my situation as a class defector, as a political act and as a 'gift'."

This is the first time Annie Ernaux has published a book of interviews. With Frédéric-Yves Jeannet, she discusses her journey into writing, her way of working, and her reasons for writing. This edition includes a previously unpublished afterword by Annie Ernaux.

Published by Gallimard in their Folio series, this volume presents the first collection of interviews ever published by Annie Ernaux. In conversation with Frédéric-Yves Jeannet, the acclaimed French author explores her literary journey, her unique working methods, and the deep motivations that drive her autobiographical project. Ernaux reflects on how her background as a class defector shapes her prose, bringing the realities of a working-class and peasant world into the realm of literature. This edition also features a previously unpublished afterword written by the author herself.

This book offers valuable insight for readers interested in contemporary French literature, autofiction, and the intersection of sociology and creative writing. It helps illuminate questions of social mobility, memory, and the political dimensions of artistic expression. Scholars, students, and devoted admirers of Ernaux's work will find it a compelling companion to her broader bibliography, providing a rare and direct commentary on the aesthetics of the real that defines her celebrated oeuvre.