Prix Renaudot for "La Place"

In 1984, Annie Ernaux was awarded the prestigious Prix Renaudot for her book La Place (A Man’s Place).[3][5][16][18] The prize is documented for the year, but no specific presentation day is readily available from major sources, so it is recorded as a year‑only event.

La Place is a concise, powerful narrative about Ernaux’s father, examining their relationship and the class distance that her education created between them. By adopting a restrained, almost clinical style, Ernaux sought to avoid sentimentalism while confronting the shame and ambivalence associated with social ascent. The book became a key text in contemporary French literature on class and is often cited as a formative example of her "auto-socio-biographical" method.

The Renaudot, a major French literary prize traditionally dominated by male authors and more conventional novels, signaled a shift toward recognizing experimental autobiographical forms and working‑class subjects as central to literary value. For Ernaux, the award significantly raised her profile, both in France and abroad, and helped secure translations and academic attention.

While the exact day of the ceremony remains undocumented in accessible sources, the 1984 Renaudot marked one of the most important institutional validations of Ernaux’s career, foreshadowing her later recognition by the Nobel Committee and cementing La Place as a classic of 20th‑century French literature.