Five years ago, I spent an awkward night with a student who had been writing to me for a year and wanted to meet me.
The opening paragraph of The Young Man captures the directness we have come to expect from Ernaux's work. Ernaux was 54; A was 30 years her junior. A wasn't one of Ernaux's students, but their correspondence began because he was familiar with her work.
This A is a different man from the A Ernaux had an affair with in Simple Passion. I mention this because I read the books in quick succession and was momentarily confused! Unlike in Simple Passion, Ernaux does not lose herself entirely to this A. She is aware of the power she wields throughout their relationship: “I was in a dominant position, and I used the weapons of that dominance, whose fragility, in a romantic relationship, I nonetheless recognised.”
Their relationship prompts Ernaux to consider ageing, desire, social class, and power in contexts she hadn't previously considered. When people look disapprovingly at them, she counters those experiences with, "When A’s face was before me, mine was young too. Men have known this forever, and I saw no reason to deprive myself."
Their breakup "coincided, give or take a few weeks," with Ernaux's completion of the book she was writing about the "backstreet abortion" she had "before A was even born". From Ernaux's perspective, that writing process was when she realised that her relationship with A needed to end.
At under 40 pages, The Young Man is the shortest of Ernaux's books that I have read so far. It is also my least favourite. Its length affected my enjoyment of it because the thing I love most about Ernaux’s work – her interjections throughout the text questioning why she is writing a scene in a particular way or writing about an experience at all – are absent from The Young Man.
If you are already a fan of Ernaux, The Young Man is worth reading. Otherwise, I'd recommend starting with Shame, Happening, or Simple Passion.
The Young Man by Annie Ernaux, translated by Alison L. Strayer, is published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in the UK and Ireland and by Seven Stories Press in the US and Canada.
I don’t use affiliate links, but if you enjoy my book reviews you can show your support by buying me a coffee here.