W, or The Memory of Childhood by Georges Perec
I unfortunately found this weeks reading to be a bit more difficult to follow than other books we read so far. Not so much in regards to difficult language or translation discrepancies, but rather the multiple storylines that took place throughout the book. In all honesty, I found it quite confusing and found myself having to reread certain passages and pages. From what I gathered, Georges attempts to recall memories from his childhood, while intertwining stories and scenarios from the present.
An initial thought I had after reading the first few chapters, was that it reminded me of our first reading, Swann's way. In this book, Marcel reflects on his past, specifically childhood and what his relationship was like with his mother and father at the time. I found similarities with this reading, as Georges tries to scrap together memories of his parents before they both perished due to different circumstances during the war. Though most of Georges memories didn't specifically connect with one another, I found some quite interesting while i felt others were a bit boring. I think part of the reason why I may have found some of these boring is because they seemed to lack emotional depth. In Swann's Way, for example, Marcel talks about how upset the neglect of his mother made him. With a lot of emotional detail, I truly felt for the character. However, with this reading, I felt as though i was reading descriptions of people or events without receiving much detail on the authors feelings. Which seemed odd to me considering memories are something very personal.
I question if this lack of detail as well as his lack of memory might have something to do with the circumstances under which his parents died. As just a young boy he had to the mourn the loss of both his parents. His father died in the war, and his mother died in the holocaust. Im thinking it's possible that because of all the chaos and emotional stress he had endured, he lacks memory.
The main thing that has me greatly confused throughout the novel is the multiple storylines and how different they were from one another. Im not too sure how Georges encounter with Otto tied in with his childhood memories, as well as the story of W.
My question for the class: do you think Georges vague memories could be trauma related?
"Georges encounter with Otto"
ReplyDeleteAha, but it's not Georges who has an encounter with Otto... it's a (fictional) character who goes by the name of Gaspard Winckler, who discovers that the person whose name he bears is missing somewhere off Tierra del Fuego...
As for how this all ties in with Perec's memories, we will talk about this in class! :)
Hi, great blog post! In contrary from your understanding, I think Georges' meet up with Otto is a crucial part of the novel as it gives the readers the important background story of how Gaspard Winckler went missing. The story of "W" to me is a metaphor of the harsh society in WWII France under the tension of military conflicts. To answer your question, I think yes Georges' vague memory was definitely trauma related, but in a way he himself chooses to ignore the specific details about his parents' deaths but focus more on what he prefers to remember from his childhood.
ReplyDeleteEspecially because names are so important in this book, I feel that I should say again that the person who meets Otto is not "Georges"!
DeleteHi! I think it's interesting that you found the book to lack emotional depth because I actually felt the opposite. Maybe it's because, while the recounting may have been a bit detached, the memories themselves seemed heavy with trauma and history. To answer your question, I think that his trauma is a very plausible explanation as to why a specific chunk of his childhood memories are very vague. It may have been a way for his still developing brain to protect himself from the horrors that he was surrounded by at that time.
ReplyDeleteHey, great post!
ReplyDeleteI also immediately thought of Swann's Way, especially as he continually brought up memories (or lack thereof) from childhood. I also had trouble tying in the different stories, but I'm excited to analyse their connections more in class.