The book The Use of Photography narrates a passionate love affair between Annie Ernaux and journalist and author Marc Marie, following their meeting in January 2003. Ernaux had undergone intensive chemotherapy for breast cancer the previous quarter and had lost all her hair from the treatments. At the end of January, she underwent surgery, followed by radiotherapy. Their relationship unfolded in various locations, with Ernaux describing how, shortly after it began, she was enchanted every morning by the sight of clothes scattered around, chairs out of place, and the remnants of their last meal still on the table – and how painful it was to put everything back in order afterward. She decided to take her camera and start photographing these scenes of disarray. When she told Marie what she had done, he confessed he felt the same desire. Translated by Alison L. Strayer into English for the first time, The Use of Photography is an exceptional reflection on eroticism, photography, and writing, a significant work by the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature winner.