Abstract
Abstract: This article examines Annie Ernaux’s Les Années at the intersection of identity as ipse and as idem . On the one hand, identity is attached to the notion of self ( ipse ): objectifiable and changing, it emerges via the cultural phenomena inscribed into the text. On the other, identity is conceived as permanence over time ( idem ) and is found in the descriptions of photographs, corporeal sensations, and metaphors of identity Ernaux employs (Dorothea Tanning’s Birthday , the Matryoshka doll set). Depicting these two views simultaneously, Ernaux crafts an autobiographical subject as bound to the collective body while also remaining uniquely singular.
Published Version
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