Dear Annie Ernaux,

It is to be expected that one will be misunderstood when one has written a book whose chosen intention is a little ambiguous. I hope that this will not discourage you because you have something to say, and a great talent. I am talking a great deal about your novel.

With my best regards, S. de Beauvoir

(Letter sent on the publication of Les Armoires vides [Cleaned Out] in 1974)

 

 

Dear Madame Ernaux,

Thank you for sending me your novel, which I read with great pleasure. Yes, indeed, you have rendered well what you wanted to capture, that dull weight one carries when one does not yet know how to find the words to express one’s being.

Perhaps nonetheless I prefer your first novel; but this may be because it was the first, and it was there that I discovered you. In any case this one is also a success.

With my best regards, S. de Beauvoir

(Letter sent on the publication of Ce qu’ils disent or rien [What they say goes] in 1977)

 

The transcription of these letters first appeared in the journal Tra-jectoires 3. Our thanks go to Annie Ernaux and Sylvie Le Bon de Beauvoir for their permission to reproduce these letters on this website.