SOURCE: Bell, Sheila M. “Endings in Autobiography: The Example of Enfance.” L'Esprit Createur 36, no. 2 (summer 1996): 21-36.

In the following essay, Bell considers the use of endings in Sarraute's Enfance, comparing their use by Sarraute to the rest of the text.

Beginnings and endings are crucial elements of structure in any form of narrative. In the autobiographical genre especially, they draw attention to narrative as construct. By definition, birth and death belong to the field of autobiography. By definition equally, they lie beyond the reach of the autobiographer. For existential events which are inaccessible, he has therefore to invent literary equivalents.¹ Where birth and beginning are concerned, Stendhal gets over the ground with an allusion to Tristam Shandy: “après tant de considérations générales je vais naître.” During the discussions, it is implied, a long-drawn-out birth process has been taking place. In the next sentence...