PARIS (AP) 鈥� French author Annie Ernaux won this year鈥檚 Nobel Prize in literature Thursday for blending fiction and autobiography in books that fearlessly mine her experiences as a working-class woman to explore life in France since the 1940s.
In more than 20 books published over five decades, Ernaux has probed deeply personal experiences and feelings 鈥� love, sex, abortion, shame 鈥� within a society split by gender and class divisions.
After a half-century of defending feminist ideals, Ernaux said 鈥渋t doesn鈥檛 seem to me that women have become equal in freedom, in power,鈥� and she strongly defended women鈥檚 rights to abortion and contraception.
鈥淚 will fight to my last breath so that women can choose to be a mother, or not to be. It鈥檚 a fundamental right,鈥� she said at a news conference in Paris. Ernaux's first book, 鈥淐leaned Out,鈥� was about her own illegal abortion before it was legalized in France.
The prize-giving Swedish Academy said Ernaux, 82, was recognized for 鈥渢he courage and clinical acuity" of books rooted in her small-town background in the Normandy region of northwest France.
Anders Olsson, chairman of the Nobel literature committee, said Ernaux is 鈥渘ot afraid to confront the hard truths.鈥�
鈥淪he writes about things that no one else writes about, for instance her abortion, her jealousy, her experiences as an abandoned lover and so forth. I mean, really hard experiences,鈥� he told The Associated Press after the award announcement in Stockholm. "And she gives words for these experiences that are very simple and striking. They are short books, but they are really moving.鈥�
French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted: 鈥淎nnie Ernaux has been writing for 50 years the novel of the collective and intimate memory of our country. Her voice is that of women鈥檚 freedom, and the century鈥檚 forgotten ones.鈥�
While Macron praised Ernaux for her Nobel, she has been unsparing with him. A supporter of left-wing causes for social justice, she has poured scorn on Macron's background in banking and said his first term as president failed to advance the cause of French women.
Ernaux's books present uncompromising portraits of life's most intimate moments, including sexual encounters, illness and the deaths of her parents. Olsson said Ernaux's work was often 鈥渨ritten in plain language, scraped clean.鈥� He said she had used the term 鈥渁n ethnologist of herself鈥� rather than a writer of fiction.
Dan Simon, Ernaux's longtime American publisher at Seven Stories Press, said that in the early years, 鈥渟he insisted that we not categorize her books at all. She did not allow us to refer to them as fiction and she did not allow us to refer to them as nonfiction.鈥�
Ultimately, he said, Ernaux has created 鈥渁 genre of fiction in which nothing is made up."
"She鈥檚 a great storyteller of her own life," Simon said.
Ernaux worked as a teacher before becoming a full-time writer. Her first book was 鈥淟es armoires vides鈥� in 1974 (published in English as 鈥淐leaned Out鈥�). Two more autobiographical novels followed 鈥� "Ce qu鈥檌ls disent ou rien" (鈥淲hat They Say Goes鈥�) and "La femme gel茅e" (鈥淭he Frozen Woman鈥�) 鈥� before she moved to more overtly autobiographical books.
In the book that made her name, 鈥淟a place鈥� (鈥淎 Man鈥檚 Place鈥�), published in 1983 and about her relationship with her father, she wrote: 鈥淣o lyrical reminiscences, no triumphant displays of irony. This neutral writing style comes to me naturally.鈥�
鈥淟a honte鈥� (鈥淪hame鈥�), published in 1997, explored a childhood trauma, while "L鈥櫭﹙茅nement" (鈥淗appening鈥�), from 2000, dealt like 鈥淐leaned Out鈥� with an illegal abortion.
Her most critically acclaimed book is 鈥淟es ann茅es" (鈥淭he Years鈥�), published in 2008. Described by Olsson as 鈥渢he first collective autobiography,鈥� it depicted Ernaux herself and wider French society from the end of World War II to the 21st century. Its English translation was a finalist for the International Booker Prize in 2019.
Ernaux's "M茅moire de fille" (鈥淎 Girl鈥檚 Story鈥�), from 2016, follows a young woman鈥檚 coming of age in the 1950s, while 鈥淧assion Simple鈥� (鈥淪imple Passion鈥�) and 鈥淪e perdre鈥� (鈥淕etting Lost") chart Ernaux's intense affair with a Russian diplomat.
Ernaux has described facing scorn from France's literary establishment because she is a woman from a working-class background.
鈥淢y work is political," she said at the news conference. She described growing up in a milieu outside the elite, a world of 鈥減eople above you鈥� and the seeming impossibility of becoming a famous writer.
The literature prize has long faced criticism that it is too focused on European and North American writers, as well as too male-dominated. Last year鈥檚 prize winner, Tanzanian-born, U.K.-based writer Abdulrazak Gurnah, was only the sixth Nobel literature laureate born in Africa.
More than a dozen French writers have captured the literature prize, though Ernaux is the first French woman to win, and just the 17th woman among the 119 Nobel literature laureates.
Olsson said the academy was working to diversify its range, drawing on experts in literature from different regions and languages.
"We try to broaden the concept of literature but it is the quality that counts, ultimately," he said.
Ernaux said she wasn't sure what she would do with the Nobel's cash award of 10 million Swedish kronor (nearly $900,000).
鈥淚 have a problem with money," she told reporters. "Money is not a goal for me. ... I don鈥檛 know how to spend it well.鈥�
kicked off Monday with Swedish scientist for unlocking secrets of Neanderthal DNA that provided key insights into our immune system.
won the physics prize on Tuesday for work showing that tiny particles can retain a connection with each other even when separated, a phenomenon known as quantum entanglement.
The Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded Wednesday to for developing a way of 鈥渟napping molecules together鈥� that can be used to explore cells, map DNA and design drugs to target cancer and other diseases.
The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday and the economics award on Monday.
The prizes will be handed out on Dec. 10. The prize money comes from a bequest left by the prize鈥檚 creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, in 1895.
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Keyton reported from Stockholm and Lawless from London. Masha Macpherson in Clergy, France; John Leicester in Le Pecq, France; Frank Jordans in Berlin; Naomi Koppel in London; Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.
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Jeffrey Schaeffer, David Keyton And Jill Lawless, The Associated Press
