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A review by casskrug
The Possession by Annie Ernaux
4.0
another tiny memoir from ernaux. it felt similar to the young man but i enjoyed this one more.
here, she is documenting her jealousy and obsession with her ex’s new lover. the writing is very raw and ernaux doesn’t hold back any details of what was going through her mind during this “possession” that took hold of her. she has such sharp prose that gets to the heart of human nature, even (and especially) the ugly sides of it that most of us would rather not uncover within ourselves. she talks about how she would manipulate her interpretations of things that her ex said to her in order to validate and confirm the jealousy she was feeling, describes phone calls she made in attempts to discover the identity of this new woman, and various other actions that she would typically frown upon.
one of the things i always appreciate about ernaux’s work is the way she discusses what propels her to write with the honesty she is known for. writing is a transformative act for her - once she writes about an experience, she is able to free herself from it because she feels that she has documented it and “completed” it. in the case of the possession, she wants to make the madness she was feeling into something universal for readers to understand. the act of writing and connecting, and the intense self-analysis that goes into it, removes that layer of shame for her. it’s always so interesting to get insight into her thought process surrounding this.
this was a good quick read and a nice addition to the work of hers that i’ve already read! another solid building block in the themes that she is constantly exploring in her work.
here, she is documenting her jealousy and obsession with her ex’s new lover. the writing is very raw and ernaux doesn’t hold back any details of what was going through her mind during this “possession” that took hold of her. she has such sharp prose that gets to the heart of human nature, even (and especially) the ugly sides of it that most of us would rather not uncover within ourselves. she talks about how she would manipulate her interpretations of things that her ex said to her in order to validate and confirm the jealousy she was feeling, describes phone calls she made in attempts to discover the identity of this new woman, and various other actions that she would typically frown upon.
one of the things i always appreciate about ernaux’s work is the way she discusses what propels her to write with the honesty she is known for. writing is a transformative act for her - once she writes about an experience, she is able to free herself from it because she feels that she has documented it and “completed” it. in the case of the possession, she wants to make the madness she was feeling into something universal for readers to understand. the act of writing and connecting, and the intense self-analysis that goes into it, removes that layer of shame for her. it’s always so interesting to get insight into her thought process surrounding this.
this was a good quick read and a nice addition to the work of hers that i’ve already read! another solid building block in the themes that she is constantly exploring in her work.