ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how photography enters Annie Ernaux's autobiographical project: how it fits into her thinking about the transformation of reality into writing, the relationship between the material and mental worlds, and the depiction of the self. It begins with an examination on Ernaux's 'journaux extimes' or external diaries, Journal du dehors and La Vie exterieure which are explicitly presented as attempts to 'photograph' in words the everyday world of Ernaux's life in Cergy. The chapter also shows how the concerns foregrounded in the 'journaux', both 'extimes' and 'intimes', have a sharpening effect on the other, more recognizably confessional works. It describes how these tendencies in Ernaux develop logically into the photo-text that is L'Usagede la photo, which contains photographs representing the passionate affair she was having at the time. It ends with a consideration of the metatextual works, L'Atelier noir and Ecrire la vie.
