The Politics of Literature in Dider Eribon’s Returning to Reims: An Emancipatory Review

Authors

• Noa de Kievit, University of AmsterdamFollow

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5915-8104

Keywords

Returning to Reims, Dider Eribon, Politics of Literature, Social Class, Class Inequality, Jacque Rancière, Affirmative Instrumentality.

Document Type

Book Review

Abstract

This paper examines Didier Eribon’s Returning to Reims (2009) as a model for understanding how literary and autobiographical writing can enact ''the politics of literature.'' While Eribon is widely recognized as a sociologist, his “autosociobiography”—tracing his trajectory from a working-class upbringing to an academic career alongside his coming out—blends personal narrative and sociological insight to illuminate structural inequalities and social marginalization. Reading the text through Jacques Rancière’s concept of the politics of literature, I argue that Eribon simultaneously expands the scope of what is visible, sayable, and thinkable, while reflecting critically on the interpretive authority he exercises. Building on Caroline Levine’s notion of “affirmative instrumentality” and Toril Moi’s emphasis on literary craft and ordinary language, I show how Eribon enacts a form of scholarly responsibility that recasts authority as a tool for democratic participation rather than domination. By attending to lived experience, relationality, and social context, Returning to Reims demonstrates how narrative can foster critical awareness and collective empowerment, positioning the literary scholar as a mediator of emancipation between knowledge, experience, and social inequality.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

de Kievit, Noa (2026) "The Politics of Literature in Dider Eribon’s Returning to Reims: An Emancipatory Review," Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis: Vol. 4: Iss. 4, Article 4.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55533/2765-8414.1157
Available at: https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/emancipations/vol4/iss4/4