THE YEARS BY ANNIE ERNAUX
Translated by Alison L. Strayer
All we have is our history, and it does not belong to us.
-José Ortega y Gasset
Yes. They'll forget us. Such is our fate, there is no help for it. What seems to us serious, significant, very important, will one day be forgotten or will seem unimportant. And it's curious that we can't possibly tell what exactly will be considered great and important, and what will seem petty and ridiculous [. . .]. And it may be that our present life, which we accept so readily, will in time seem strange, inconvenient, stupid, not clean enough, perhaps even sinful...
-Anton Chekhov
Translated from the Russian by Constance Garnett
