In Darkness We Meet: Annie Ernaux’s Account of Care and Dementia

Abstract

Abstract The complexities surrounding aging, dementia, and care are timely and urgent issues that transcend beyond institutional boundaries, evincing a critical debate on later life across disciplines. In recent decades, there has been a significant rise in literary and cultural representations of dementia and care narratives, which offer valuable insights into the intricate paradigms of living and growing older with this condition. In her memoir I Remain in Darkness (1999), the Nobel Prize winning author Annie Ernaux provides a candid account of her mother’s journey through dementia, from its onset to the gradual decline. Ernaux sincerely explores the nuances of dementia and caregiving within both the familial and institutional context, and sheds light on the complex and uneasy relationship between a mother and a daughter. Through the act of witnessing, she embarks on a path of healing, which allows her to confront her past wounds and better navigate the challenges that lie ahead. Ernaux’s harrowing account of her mother’s dementia and aging is both a confessional piece of writing and a narrative therapy, which reveals the challenges of aging, illness, and unresolved family tensions. Her work illuminates the interconnectedness between the past, present, and future, and shows that illness narratives can act as a catalyst for transformative change, identity formation, and self-reflection. However, Ernaux’s confessional memoir also troubles the ethics of life writing and identity issues, and seems to perpetuate the pathologizing medical gaze through the exposure of her mother’s vulnerability and intimacy in the face of dementia and care.