UK publication of the English translation of Annie Ernaux’s "Les Années" as "The Years," broadening her anglophone readership.
On 8 June 2017, the English translation of Annie Ernaux’s seminal work Les Années (The Years), translated by Alison L. Strayer, was published in the United Kingdom.[20] This edition made available in English a book widely regarded as Ernaux’s masterpiece, which blends personal recollection with collective history across six decades of French life.
The Years departs from conventional autobiography by using a "we" or impersonal "she" voice to fuse Ernaux’s experiences with those of her generation. The 2017 English publication was historically important because, until then, Ernaux’s reception in the Anglophone world had been relatively limited compared with her status in France. Making this work accessible in English dramatically expanded her international readership and scholarly engagement.
The translation’s release coincided with growing global interest in autofiction and feminist memoir, allowing Anglophone critics to situate Ernaux alongside writers such as Karl Ove Knausgård and Rachel Cusk while emphasizing her distinct political and sociological orientation. Reviews underscored the book’s power as a "collective autobiography" and its meticulous documentation of consumer culture, media, and political change.
For women’s history, the publication date marks a crucial step in disseminating Ernaux’s account of women’s evolving roles—from postwar domesticity through the sexual revolution and feminist movements to precarious neoliberal modernity—to English-speaking audiences. Though the translation had different release schedules in other territories, the 8 June 2017 UK launch stands as a key moment when Ernaux’s overarching vision of memory and history entered broader global discourse.