A Man's Place PDF
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A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR A giftnotonly to herparents but also to readers. Ernaux has given us her parents, people we come to know and care about. An extraordinary accomplishment! — San Francisco Chronicle A woman's bittersweetmemoir ofthe fathershe neverknew butalwavsloved A Author of Woman's Story Digitized by the Internet Archive 2012 in http://archive.org/details/mansplaceOOOerna "A masterpiece . . . Unlike any other contemporary writing." — Paris Match "Her ability to simply limn and balance a stark, neu- tral language 'legacy' of her parents, with her own nuanced subjectivity, grows from her emotional ne- gotiation ofthe worlds ofthe working class and the middle class, and, most importantly, from having learned not to mix what goes on inside with what goes on outside." — Review ofContemporary Fiction "This book is a construction of a hope that, by so very carefully and bloodlessly laying out the pieces ofa life ofa worker and a countryman, Ernaux can reclaim her father for herself." — Left Coast Review "Exceptional Intense and extraordinarily pow- . . . erful Exercises a sort of fascination over the . . . reader." — Figaro Magazine "A fine literary success, vibrant with contained emotion and reserve." — Le Monde "A feat ofdignity and steady resonance." — Booklist "Moving and memorable." — Kirkus Reviews Also by Annie Ernaux Published by Ballantine Books A Woman's Story A MAN'S PLACE Annie Ernaux TRANSLATED BYTANYA LESLIE Ballantine Books NEW YORK Sale ofthis book without a front cover may be unauthorized. Ifthis book is coverless, it may have been reported to the publisher as "unsold or destroyed" and neither the author nor the publisher may have received payment for it. Copyright © 1992 by Four Walls Eight Windows All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and distributed in Canada by Random House ofCanada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in French as La Place by Editions Gallimard in 1983. Copyright © 1983 Editions Gallimard. This translation first published in Great Britain by Quartet Books Limited in 1992. First published in the United States by Four Walls Eight Windows. This edition published by arrangement with Four Walls Eight Windows. Library ofCongress Catalog Card Number: 93-90011 ISBN: 0-345-37895-4 Cover design by Georgia Morrissey Cover photograph ofthe author and her father from the author's collection Manufactured in the United States ofAmerica First Ballantine Books Edition: September 1993 987654321 10 A MAN'S PLACE — May I venture an explanation: writing is the ultimate recourse for those who have betrayed Jean Genet T, he practical test for rny capes* examination took place at a lycee in Lyon, located in the Croix- Rousse area. A new lycee, with potted plants in the buildings for the teaching and administrative staff, and a library fitted with a sand-colored carpet. I waited there until they came to fetch me for my practical, which involved giving a lesson in front of an inspector and two assessors, both distin- guished lecturers in French. A woman was mark- *Certificat d'Aptitude au Professorat de rEnseignement du SecondDegre,thesecondaryteachers'trainingcertificateissued — by the French state. After obtaining their licence bachelor's — degree applicants take a one-year course, followed by a probationaryyearwhenthey aretakenonastraineeteachers stagiaires. MAN'S PLACE A ing papers haughtily, without a flicker of hesitation. All I had to do was sail through the following hour and I would be allowed to do the same as she did for the rest ofmy life. I explained twenty-five lines referenced by number taken from Balzac's novel Le Pere Goriot to a class of twelfth graders from the math program. Afterwards, in the headmaster's office, the inspector said to me dis- approvingly: "You really had to push them, didn't you." He was sitting between the two assessors, a man and a shortsighted woman with pink shoes. And me, opposite. For fifteen minutes he show- ered me with criticism, praise and advice. I was barely listening; I wondered ifall this meant I had passed. Suddenly, in unison, the three of them stood up, looking very serious. I too rose to my feet hurriedly. The inspector held out his hand to me. Then, looking straight at me, he said: "Con- gratulations, Madame." The others repeated "Congratulations" and shook hands with me. The woman smiled. I kept thinking about this scene while I was walking to the bus stop, with anger and something resembling shame. The same evening I wrote to
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