Annie Ernaux , Tanya Leslie (Translator) – A Man’s Place

I am enjoying Annie Ernaux’s autobiographical pieces. They somewhat remind me of a huge puzzle and with each book we readers are seeing a new aspect of her life. A Man’s Place (published in France in 1982, made widely available by Fitzcarraldo in 2020). This time Annie Ernaux is writing about her father.

Annie Ernaux is perfect at not wasting words. Within a brief 75 pages there is the childhood, middle age and death of her father. This may mean that the man had an uneventful life since it’s treated briefly. However that is not the point with Annie Ernaux. Through this biography Ernaux manages to squeeze in other topics. In a sense A Man’s Place is a meta-biography.

Ernaux’s father came from a farming family, however as time passes he managed to slowly leave the farm and work in a factory. Eventually, in the memoir, he meets Ernaux’s mother and shifts to owning a grocery store and cafe. The book concludes with his retirement and death.

As this is told from Annie Ernaux’s point of view we get a picture of a man who is slightly contradictory. He is a person of few words, and yet he loved talking to the customers in the cafe, with a predilection for puns. He loves living simply, even making fun of Ernaux for being bookish but he owned property and hated the fact that other grocers and cafes were opening in the neighborhood. Closer to retirement he becomes more materialistic, striving to make life easier.

The reader also gets a picture of France before and after the 2 world wars. At certain points Ernaux’s father has an inkling that farmng life may not be viable in post war France, hence his move from Normandy to Yvetot, something which paid off. Annie, at times is a continuation of the chanigng mentalities of france as she continued her education. This causes a rift in her family.

When Ernaux’s father dies two months in her teaching career, she acknowledges that despite the fact that they did not communicate so much, her love for him was still present. It’s an oddly touching ending for an oddly poignant book.

I thought A Man’s Place was fantastic. I like how Annie Ernaux states her observations, I liked how there’s no sense of hagiography. I liked that everything is told as it is yet there is an amount of depth. As I said the book has a moving conclusion. Annie Ernaux has a talent for being nakedly honest without resorting to manipulative devices. Ernaux’s talent lies in simplicity and it’s pulled off magnificently in A Man’s Place.

Many thanks to Fitzcarraldo for providing a copy of A Man’s Place