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 I found the novel "W, or the Memory of Childhood" by Georges Perec to be an extremely interesting read for me. I found myself getting lost in the memories of his childhood and the descriptions and the way he had forgotten some of it and was sharing what he could remember was really descriptive and something that I found added a lot fo context to the novel. One thing that confused me was that the cities were being represented by Ws or Rs and just single letters in general. This is something that i found myself questioning throughout the novel based on the significance or meaning of the singular letters. I also was confused by what XX or X was being used to represent whether it was to represent the cities in France or streets, etc. 

My question is why do you think just letters were used to represent places or cities throughout the text?

One thing that surprised me in this novel was when Otto Apfelstahl had sought out the narrator to help find the original Gaspard Winckler even though Otto Apfelstahl had known and was clear about the fact that the narrator had just used his name and had no other clues or hints leading back to the case of Gaspard Winckler being missing. This was something that was interesting to me because the level of work he had to do to have the conversation with the narrator and the effort he put in to track him down did not seem to match up with the abilities the narrator was known to have to help Otto Apfelstahl and his team come closer to finding the original Gaspard Winckler. Another thing that was a bit confusing for me was when the narrator had talked about the place referred to as W. W seemed to be an olympic village or city, which I found very interesting, though I found it difficult to adjust to the different storyline n the novel. Overall, this novel was very interesting to me and I think the mixture of the two stories together added a lot of beauty and realism to the text. I was able to see what was going on in the plot and also have a deeper understanding of the childhood and experiences that he had which definitely created a positive impact on the story. This also led me to understand the text a lot more and have a deeper understanding of the narrator and his life. This novel was very unique to other texts that I have read.

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Georges Perec’s W, or the Memory of Childhood takes a very clear divergence from the typical, albeit not necessarily standard, formula of the novel. The Novel is novel, in its use of quick flashbacks to the childhood of the narrator, and just like it says in the title of the Novel, Perec uses the descriptive, […] read full post >>

I found this novel to be quite unusual and interesting. One never expects to find two parallel narratives in a novel where one is autobiographical and the other fictional. But that is implied in the title “W” and it seems that this is an autobiography for an author without one. The stories merge into one […] read full post >>

As I did my research on this novel, I came across some of the covers that were used in this novel. What I noticed was the consistent wordplay that Perec used. Even on the cover of W, or the memory of Childhood, the “w” was more like two v’s. In french the letter “w” can […] read full post >>

I absolutely adored the concept of this book by Perec and I thoroughly enjoyed every chapter whether it made sense or not.  The themes of fantasy and reality are really expressed here and it shows that the author may be contemplating the choice of W over the realism of his memories. The “real” portion of […] read full post >>

Hey everyone! W Or the Memory of Childhood by Georges Perec was an especially difficult read for me. It was... read full post >>

Near the beginning of the novel, the narrator, Georges, explains that he has very little memories from his childhood. He has lived a very difficult early life, losing both his parents during WWII, and moving from different boarding houses to different family members as he grew up in a war-torn world as a young child. […] read full post >>

Georges Perec’s postmodern novel W, or the Memory of Childhood is a very interesting story about the author’s life in Nazi-occupied France. Other than being a very interesting semi-autobiographical recount of the main character’s memories (or lack thereof), I really … Continue reading → read full post >>

This novel had me spiralling fro numerous reasons; however, for the purpose of this blog post, I shall focus on the contrasting chapters alone. It is rare that I come across a reading that I relate to so closely and envy the author for their ability to encapsulate a rare feeling so vividly. The feeling […] read full post >>

    “W, or The Memory of Childhood” by Georges Perec is a unique tale, for it really presents two intertwined. Half autobiography, half boyhood fantasy, the author utilizes this interesting dynamic as a kind of symbiotic storytelling—as without one, the other cannot exist. In this he reveals the importance of imagination for the development of the […] read full post >>

The fantastical imagery used throughout the book when transitioning, or barely so, between the memories made me feel as though... read full post >>

As I was reading W or the Memory of Childhood by Georges Perec, I found myself really interested in the form of the story as well as the content. At first it was very confusing and I had some trouble understanding it. However, in the end the whole story comes together in a way that […] read full post >>

‘W, or the Memory of Childhood’ by Georges Perec is one of the only postmodern texts I have read. I have to say, I love the premise of many of his books from the complete absence of the letter ‘e’ to the 500-palindrome long poem. While some may... read full post >>

‘W, or the Memory of Childhood’ by Georges Perec is one of the only postmodern texts I have read. I have to say, I love the premise of many of his books from the complete absence of the letter ‘e’ to the 500-palindrome long poem. While some may... read full post >>

Hey everyone! This week I will be reflecting on my reading of Georges Perec’s novel, W or The Memory of... read full post >>