What are we looking for? – Annie Ernaux’s ‘Simple Passion’

Wendy and I are both deeply fond of everything Annie Ernaux writes. For some months now, we’ve been slowly working our way through the author’s catalogue, savouring each book and sending voice notes galore to celebrate the writing style, and the reaction it prompts in us both. Admittedly, this is a cheat bit of guidance given that Under Your Pillow remains a place to celebrate poetry, and we’re starting with prose. But we hope ‘Simple Passion’ is just about beautiful enough for us to get away with it. 

“Quite often I would write down on a sheet of paper the date, the time, and “he’s going to come,” along with other sentences, fears—that he might not come, that he might not feel the same desire for me.”

― Annie Ernaux, Simple Passion


‘Simple Passion’ isn’t erotica in the strictest sense. Though it is a book about a woman who is desperately sexually attracted to man – who she knows she shouldn’t be involved with – and the story is laden with sexual tension as a result of that. 

The beauty of Ernaux’s writing, for me and I think for Wendy, too, is in the sparse but specific detailing she uses. She roots us in the moment, in the geographical setting, in the sexual experience, but she does it with so few details that it’s commendable – as well as being open plan enough to allow a reader to fill in the blanks for themselves. In doing so, Ernaux creates an incident that is both entirely hers but also her readers’, insofar as allowing us to connect dots, draw our own conclusions and paint the scene by numbers, in a fashion. 

‘Simple Passion’, then, and much of the author’s back catalogue, reads as collaborative – shared. It is Ernaux’s purging and our reading of that purging that makes the story – and it makes for a great deal of intimacy, too. 

So, tips to take away from ‘Simple Passion’ would be: dalliances with people you shouldn’t be involved with; specific detailing and settings; open spaces to create a collaboration with your reader. 

Happy writing! Love from –

Charley 

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