Getting Lost

“In the Power” is a novel by the French writer Annie Ernaux, first published in 2003. The narrator breaks up with her partner, V., after six years together. But this novel is by no means about the breakup itself; it balances, as always with Ernaux, on the edge between documentation and fiction—and the new woman, V. Caught in burning jealousy of an unfamiliar rival, the heroine watches the collapse of her moral values. Obsession grows, and the text becomes a way for the narrator to give it material form. Through an account of her own madness, Ernaux explores the nature of language: slipping into stereotypes and clichés, she escapes banality and achieves uncompromising precision. Through the narrative fabric appears what truly interests Ernaux—bodiliness, word, writing.