A Woman's Story Book

Quick Impression


Annie Ernaux with her mother, at the entrance of the cafe in 1959
[Photo appearing in "Writing Life", by Annie Ernaux, Gallimard, Quarto, 2011].
(© Private Archives of Annie Ernaux, D.R.)

Oh dear Lord!
Ernaux writes with her own blood!!!
What was that? it defeated me to the ground! Although this book is an intimate talking's daughter about her mother throughout her lifetime, I felt like I was the very narrator, I was there somehow, I was this mother's daughter! What a weird relation between the daughter and the mother!

***

Suggestions

The following questions are suggested to enhance individual reading and invite group discussion regarding Annie Ernaux's A Woman's Story. We hope these questions provide additional topics for consideration and generate a stimulating dialogue with others.

1. Why do you think Ernaux chooses to title her book "A Woman's story"? To whom do you think in refers and why? What would you have chosen to title it?

2. Examine the quote from Hegel prefacing the book. What do you think he means by this? To what extent do you agree or disagree? How does this idea relate to the rest of the book?

3. Ernaux attempts to view her mother's story in a purely objective context in order to "to capture the real woman, the one who existed independently from me.." What techniques does she use stylistically to accomplish this? Do you think she is ultimately able to achieve her goal? Why or why not?

4. After her mother's funeral, Ernaux writes, "Everything was definitely over." What is over? What now begins? Similarly, what does Ernaux mean when she writes, "I kept remembering that Sunday, when she was alive, the brown socks, the forsythia, her mannerisms, her smile when I said goodbye, and then the Monday, when she was dead, lying in her bed. I couldn't put the two days together. Now everything is one."?

5. Ernaux says she writes "as if there existed only one immutable order which would covey the truth about my mother (although what this truth involves I am unable to say)." Plot the sequence with which Ernaux relates the events of her mother's life and death in the book. Why do you think Ernaux ultimately decides on this particular chronology? How does it connect with the larger themes of rebirth and growth? Can you find passages in the book to support your answer? And finally, in your opinion, what is the truth Ernaux wishes to convey?

6. Why is Ernaux now able to "feel the power of ordinary sentences, or even cliches"?

7. As Ernaux reveals the story of her mother's life, her own story is similarly bared. Compare the similarities and differences you discover between the two women in regards to their upbringing, their temperaments, their intellectual disposition, their aspirations, and their worldviews. Ernaux then predicts for herself a similar end to her mother's: "one day.. I would be one of the women who sit waiting for their dinner, folding and unfolding their napkins, here or somewhere else." Why do think she comes to this conclusion? Do you agree with this scenario? Why or why not?

8. Ernaux is careful to suspend judgment of her mother, of herself, and of those around her, calling herself "only the archivist." What is she archiving? What moral and emotional demands does this position then place on the reader? Are there any passages you remember that particularly moved or shocked you? Would a different approach to her mother's death have ultimately been more powerful? Why or why not?

9. Ernaux writes: "I would recognize that tone of conversation between a mother and her daughter anywhere in the world." What are the universal signs of a mother-daughter relationship you find throughout the book? And in your own life?

10. What are some of the idealized misconceptions children have of their parents, sometimes well past the age of childhood? Find examples in the book as well as from personal experience. How does Ernaux react when these illusions are broken?

11. Ernaux write: "The last bond between me and the world I come from has been severed." To what extent is this true? What world is she referring to? What world does she now belong to? Find passages in the book to support your answer.

***