6th Meet Book Pick: Annie Ernaux's Happening
We choose Annie Ernaux's Happening (2001) for our next meeting
Hello! Hello!
We will be meeting on October 24, 2023 at 8pm EST on Zoom/in person to read Annie Ernaux’s Happening (2001), a brilliant short memoir, almost a novella, in which Ernaux details her attempts at obtaining an abortion in France in 1963. Abortion wasn’t legalised until 1975. I will do a preview with an art work about a week before, unless of course someone wants to help. :)
Earlier this summer, after Florencia and I saw her documentary Les Années Super 8 (2022) on a sticky night at Parc Laurier, I asked Anabela where to start with Ernaux and she suggested Happening, and I’m so glad she did.
I realise this account may exasperate or repel some readers. I believe that any experience, whatever its nature, has the inalienable right to be chronicled. There is no such thing as a lesser truth. Moreover, if I failed to go through with this undertaking, I would be guilty of silencing the lives of women and condoning a world governed by the patriarchy.
Ernaux. . .writes with clear, controlled precision that is as vivid as it is devastating to read, and which connects the pain and indignity of her experience to class, power and patriarchy. —The Guardian
For the first time (and hopefully the last!) I won’t be doing a full round up for Sorrowland, I hope that will be ok with everyone. Meaghan, me, and Anabela met and had a long discussion about the book, its context, author, and our own way into the book’s eventful pace. A few members were not able to make it and were greatly missed.
See you in a month,
xx