Annie Ernaux

“I believe that every experience, whatever its nature, has an undeniable right to be recorded.” In this autobiographical text, the author returns to her diary entries from 1963, when, at the age of twenty-three – as an unmarried student – she discovered that she was pregnant. She becomes consumed with shame – she understands that pregnancy would destroy her and her family socially; however, she also knows that she cannot keep the child. In France, where abortion is illegal, she tries in vain to abort using a knitting needle. In fear and desperation, she finally seeks out an abortionist and ends up in a hospital emergency room, where she almost loses her life. In a text written nearly forty years later, Ernaux touches on a trauma she has never overcome.

Published by Host, 2023