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The Years

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About this listen

The Years is a personal narrative of the period of 1941 to 2006 told through the lens of memory, impressions past and present - even projections into the future - photos, books, songs, radio, television, and decades of advertising and headlines, contrasted with intimate conflicts and written notes from six decades of diaries. Local dialect, words of the time, slogans, brands, and names for ever-proliferating objects are given a voice here. The voice we recognize as the author's continually dissolves and re-emerges. Ernaux makes the passage of time palpable. Time itself, inexorable, narrates its own course, consigning all other narrators to anonymity. A new kind of autobiography emerges, at once subjective and impersonal, private and collective.

On its 2008 publication in France, The Years came as a surprise. Although Ernaux had, for years, been hailed as a beloved best-selling and award-winning author, The Years was in many ways a departure: both an intimate memoir written by entire generations and a story of generations telling a very personal story.

©2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC Europe France
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I listened practically all in one session. A marvellous evocation of what it is to live and grow older through history!

Compelling and moving

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This is a marvellous piece of work .It is important .I have listened to every word and acknowledged every sentence as worthy

Marvellous Read /Listen

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Acutely observed memoir, chronologically narrating a woman's life in France from 1941 to 2006. Bravely told (even though the memoirist herself is described in the third person) and a fascinating insight into French life since the war. Outstanding.

Brilliant life narrative

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It brought back memories of times past and included world events. Interesting and very well told.

A reminiscent listen

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A tour de force which encapsulates a life time, from the varying point of view of a female character in the third person, The Years is not a story, but an interface between continuously changing individual perception and culture.

A beautiful novel

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