What is pretentiousness? Why are we afraid of it? And more controversially: why is it vital to a thriving culture? Drawing on the author's own experiences growing up and working at the more radical edges of the arts, this book is a timely defence of pretentiousness as a necessity for innovation and diversity in our culture.

'My father tried to kill my mother one Sunday in June, in the early afternoon.' Thus begins Shame, the probing story of the twelve-year-old girl who will become Annie Ernaux, and the traumatic memory that will echo and resonate throughout her life.

With the emotionally rich voice of great fiction and the analytical eye of a scientist, Annie Ernaux provides a powerful reflection on experience and the force of violent memory to endure through time, to deter-mine the course of a life.

Details

ISBN13: 9781804270561
Format: Paperback / softback
Number of Pages: 88
Edition:
Publication Date: 03 Jan 2024
Publisher: Fitzcarraldo Editions
Publication City, Country: London, United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 197(H)x125(L)
Weight (gm):

Author Biography

Tanya Leslie was the first translator of Annie Ernaux into English and translated a number of her works, including A Woman's Story (1991), A Man's Place (1992), Simple Passion (1993), Shame (1998), I Remain in Darkness (1999) and Happening (2001).

Reviews

'Reading her is like getting to know a friend, the way they tell you about themselves over long conversations that sometimes take years, revealing things slowly, looping back to some parts of their life over and over.' - Joanna Biggs, London Review of Books

'Annie Ernaux is one of my favourite contemporary writers, original and true. Always after reading one of her books, I walk around in her world for months.' - Sheila Heti, author of Motherhood