ABSTRACT
According to Judith Butler, precarity derives from vulnerability and can be seen as a shared receptivity and openness to being affected by others. Although all lives share in precariousness in some way, some are more affected than others: these include refugees and stateless, poor and homeless, feminized, queer, and racialized people. In A Woman’s Story (1988), Annie Ernaux negotiates the precariousness of living conditions and the class difference that grows out of social ascent. In the form of a queer reading, this chapter discusses how Ernaux’ writing can be understood as a political act by means of which social inequalities are made visible, heteronormative power relations are thematized, and questions on the intersection of class and gender are raised. Ultimately, it raises questions about the world we (want to) live in.
