Book Review: Hôtel Casanova et autres textes brefs by Annie Ernaux

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Book Review: Hôtel Casanova et autres textes brefs by Annie Ernaux

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Annie Ernaux is masterful at presenting nuances and intricacies of every day life and happenings. Every little moment and memory has been vividly captured with a stabbing pain and release of what once was. In there lies the “truth;” uncovered. Ernaux never shies away – I can always count on her to tell it as it is. A bravery, that I, myself wouldn’t be able to embody when writing. When I think of autobiography in the last few years (since reading Ernaux in undergrad), I think about Annie Ernaux. Another thing she does well is “re-capturing.” Revisiting stories of her life . She is always retrospectively conscious of her “judgement” past and present. She never excuses it, and nearly always exposes it. Furthermore, in her works she also highlights and represents a slice of the sociopolitical life: history, art, literature, social class and political movements. These aspects are always within her own narrative. When she gives a slice of life; there’s always context, there’s a contextual background of the century she is living in at play. They’re corresponding. In this matter, she gives a slice of Parisian life from the 20th century leading up to the 21st. It is a collective memorandum slipping through. For example, in these ‘brief texts’ she talks about Bourdieu’s passing, her visit to Leipizig, the URSS, and even her encounters with a homeless man at the bank in her own town, etc. 

“Those we love never truly leave us, Harry. There are things that death cannot touch.” 

“In every shining moment of happiness is that drop of poison: the knowledge that pain will come again. Be honest to those you love, show your pain. To suffer is as human as to breathe.” 

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