OBJECTIVE WRITING IN THE NOVEL LA HONTE BY ANNA ERNO: BETWEEN THE PURSUIT OF TRUTH AND DISTANCING FROM EMOTION

Abstract

Abstract. The paper explores the phenomenon of objective writing in the novel La Honte by the French writer Anne Erno and its functioning as a means of representing traumatic experience. The work is considered in the context of autosociobiographic discourse, which combines individual memory and the social mechanisms of its formation. Particular attention is paid to the author’s rejection of metaphor, emotionally colored vocabulary, and lyricism, which allows her to avoid artistic fictionalization and get as close as possible to the “documentary” truth of the experience.

The analysis examined key fragments of the novel, in particular the scene of the traumatic event (Sunday, June 15), which is presented in a restrained, almost neutral tone. It was found that the laconic syntax, simplicity of language constructions, and the absence of expressive means create the effect of distance between the author and the event. This way of writing does not reduce the intensity of the experience, but, on the contrary, enhances it due to the absence of direct emotional interpretation, shifting the responsibility for comprehension to the reader. Objective writing in this context acts as a tool for the reconstruction of memory, which allows us to recreate the event without romanticizing or dramatizing it.

The study also emphasizes that the neutrality of the style is associated with the author's desire for social truth: individual experience is presented as part of a broader cultural and class context. At the same time, this writing strategy creates an alienation effect, which can be interpreted as a way of psychological protection from traumatic memory.

The conclusions drawn indicate that the "flat" writing of Anna Erno is not the absence of emotion, but a conscious aesthetic and ethical position aimed at achieving maximum authenticity. The balance between objectivity and hidden emotionality forms the author's unique style, which determines the specificity of modern French autobiographical prose. Prospects for further research are related to the analysis of similar narrative strategies in the works of other authors and the study of the reception of "objective writing" in different cultural contexts.