Exteriors

Review

Another short Ernaux text from Fitzcarlando (forever grateful to have been introduced to this press, these books are beautiful). This book is longer than I Will Write, but is in a way shallower. It is a collection of entries into a diary observing behavior of other people in public, writing down little episodes and encounters, sometimes reflecting on them. I love this. Some of them are funny, sad, moving. Most of them are mundane, and yet not boring or in need of editing out. They’re mundane because life is often mundane.

I like this little note from Ernaux on page 41: “We all need to assess the advantages and constraints of a profession, the material side of life. Not out of harmless curiosity, or to make polite conversation, but to learn about other people’s lives so that we can learn about our own life or the life we might have led.”

Another note from 1991: “Men should wear silk lingerie so that we can enjoy the pleasure of seeing and touching these soft, delicate fabrics on their skin.” I agree, Annie.

Less fun, but maybe what I’ve been thinking about most since finishing it a few hours ago: “In sixty years’ time, everything that I have seen, loved and enjoyed may have disappeared, replaced by a stack of printed pages, to be consulted only for some obscure thesis.”

I really enjoyed this one, though the nature of it forces it to be less compelling to me than the other, more interior, works.