"Desiring to disobey": politics and stylistics of living differently in Annie Ernaux

In the works of Annie Ernaux, the alliance of desire and disobedience (which I borrow from Georges Didi-Huberman) crystallises a commitment driven by indignation and sustained, as it was in Camus's oeuvre, by a creative revolt against both the indignities endured by the dominated and the government's shameful acts towards them, as well as against the State's disengagement from public services and any instance of declinist discourse. Annie Ernaux's opposition to power transcends mere protest : reminiscent of Camus, who remains a great inspiration, a positive energy 'for' rather than merely 'against' drives her quest for truth, her belief in the exercise of freedom and her fight for dignity. Her engagement against all forms of injustice (whether it be French migration policy, the treatment of the Yellow Vests by the French authorities or the pension reform of 2023) confirms her role as a key protagonist of the re-politicization of the anti-capital movement. If Jean-Luc Melenchon symbolises a form of counter-power, Ernaux, on the other hand, embodies the power of desire and boundless imagination. Politics and ethics come together in her stylistics (that encompasses accuracy of expression) and carry the hope of another, better life.