The Years is, of course, Virginia Woolf’s 1937 novel. The Years (Les Années) (2008) is also a memoir by 
She tells her story without using the pronoun “I,” yet her voice is clear and consistent throughout. And her recollections are my own too. Relating her life by means of “we” and “they,” the narrative stands as a collective memoir of a generation, hers and mine. I also found several links, both direct and implied, between Ernaux and Woolf.
I’m grateful to the editors of Bloom, who gave me an enthusiastic go-ahead on this project and provided it with a home. You can read my essay, “The Years by Annie Ernaux: Memoir of a Generation.”
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[…] News that French writer Annie Ernaux has won the Nobel Prize for literature brought up a connection to Virginia Woolf that Alice Lowe wrote about four years ago in a post titled “The Years and The Years.” […]
Well done, Alice!
Thank you, Alice, for this very detailed and informative article about Ernaux and her writing, particularly the sections in which you discuss her work in relation to that of her contemporaries and older writers. Now you have me wanting to read all of Ernaux’s books AND those of the other writers. Help! I’m drowning in books!!
Oh, and please do read “The Overstory”, by Richard Powers, winner of the National Book Award and finalist for the Booker Prize. I promise you, you’ll never think of trees the way you used to do. For me, it’s a lifechanging book.
Thanks again, Alice!
Ellen