Fiction, Autobiography and Annie Ernaux's Evolving Project as a Writer: A Study of Ce Qu'ils Disent Ou Rien

Abstract

Annie Ernaux has described Ce qu'ils disent ou rien (1976) as 'le seul de mes textes qui soit vraiment un 'roman'. Yet the novel draws substantially on autobiographical material, giving expression to conflicts rooted in her girlhood, and mediating her preoccupations at the time of writing. Ernaux's project as a writer is situated here in the field of contemporary life-writing, and psychoanalytical perspectives are used to illuminate motifs which link Ce qu'ils disent ou rien to the body of Ernaux's work. The multi-layered autobiographical investments in the novel create a complex jeu de miroirs which effectively subverts the position of the textual figure who might be seen as a projection of the author's adult persona. Analysis of the imbrication of fictional and autobiographical elements suggests that the text may be seen as an imaginative negotiation of difficulties in Ernaux's quest for a sense of identity as a woman and as a writer, and as a prelude to her subsequent rejection of fiction.