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Lädt ... I Remain in Darknessvon Annie Ernaux
Keine Lädt ...
Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. In contrast to her earlier book, A Man's Place, I Remain in Darkness, an account of the last years of the life of Annie Ernaux's mother, Blanche, is a deeply personal and at times painful to read account. The book consists of short notes that Ernaux took during her mother's decline and demise from Alzheimer's disease. Blanche spent her last years in the geriatric ward of the local hospital, after Ernaux was unable to care for her in her home. Annie visited her at least once a week, and upon returning home wrote short entries about these visits and her mother's condition upon returning home. These entries were compiled, unchanged, in chronological order, unchanged, to form this book. Ernaux mentions that the book is meant to represent "vestiges of pain", rather than an objective chronicle of a person with end-stage Alzheimer's disease. The title of the book is the last sentence that Blanche wrote before her death. A major difference between these two accounts is that Ernaux was living with her family abroad during all but the last days of her father's life; during her mother's decline, which followed shortly after a serious automobile accident, she had separated from her husband and moved back to her home town with her children. Ernaux also tells us that she could not write a book about her mother as she did about her father in A Man's Place, as she is too identical to her mother to be able to write objectively about her. In a typical vignette, Ernaux picks up her mother from a private home in an adjacent village, to bring her back "home". Blanche is crestfallen when she realizes that she will be going back to the same hospital where she had resided previously. Upon her arrival to the geriatric ward, Blanche is greeted by other women there, who view her as the "new girl", even though these women are the same ones that were there when Blanche originally left. As Ernaux leaves the ward, her mother calls to her longingly, and she realizes that the mother‒daughter relationship has turned 180 degrees: "The situation is reversed, now she is my little girl. I CANNOT be her mother." Blanche's slow physical decline coincides with the loss of her mental capabilities, yet she is able to recognize her daughter and celebrate her frequent visits. Ultimately Blanche loses the ability to walk, dress and feed herself, as the disease process accelerates toward the end. Her lucid periods become less frequent and shorter in duration. As Blanche's life nears its end, Ernaux recalls happier memories, as she is not ready for her mother to leave her. She also compares her mother's decline to her own aging and progressive loss of her physical beauty, and fears that she will undergo the same fate. Her grief at the end of the book is almost too painful to read about, especially for this reader, whose parents are approaching their final years. My review can also be found in issue 3 of the online literary magazine Belletrista: http://belletrista.com/2010/issue3/features_5.php Zeige 4 von 4
In ''I Remain in Darkness'' (its title taken from the last coherent sentence her mother ever wrote) Ernaux abandons her search for a larger truth because, in the face of a loss as profound as that of her mother, all attempts to make sense of it have the feel of artifice. Gehört zu VerlagsreihenGallimard, Folio (3155) Ist enthalten inHat als Erläuterung für Schüler oder Studenten
This extraordinary evocation of a grown daughter's attachment to her mother-and of both women's strength and resiliency-recounts Annie's attempt to first help her mother recover from Alzheimer's disease and, then, when that proves futile, bear witness to the older woman's gradual decline and her own experience as a daughter losing a beloved parent. I Remain in Darkness is a new high-water mark for Ernaux, surging with raw emotional power and her sublime ability to use language to apprehend her own life's particular music. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)848.91403Literature French Miscellaneous French writings 1900- 1900-1999 1945-1999 Diaries, journals, notebooks, reminiscencesKlassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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This was a moving read. I found it interesting to see some of the differences between elder care in the US and in France. However, if you are looking for an example of Annie's Ernaux's brilliant writing, I am not sure this is the book to read. It was short, I'm not sorry I read it, but I am not sure it is one I would recommend.
3 stars ( )