Student Blogs

This week, I read Georges Perec, W, or the Memory of Childhood a story about two characters, alternating between chapters. I found this style of narrative interesting because we can better compare the two. I expected the book to be confusing with two narratives, but Perec did a great job of making it clear and easy to read. While reading the second narrative of Gaspard Winkler, I sensed that some of the conditions being told had an underlying meaning that related to the first narrative of Perec. It was clear both the characters are going through their separate journeys but share a lot in common by witnessing similar conditions.  

It was sad to read about the narrator trying so hard to remember his childhood memories. I felt a strong sense of displacement that the narrator was feeling from the impacts of the war. With the narrator being born in 1936, he spent many of his developmental years in the fear that being impacted by the second World War brings. Living in those circumstances and growing up in that environment has left him shattered as he tries to pick up the pieces and form memories from vague moments and photographs. This story could be one of many children at that time losing their parents, living in fear, and being too young to even understand why. 

In the book, the narrator takes us to the island W where a similar competition like the Olympics takes place. This island W reflects the Nazi’s organized death camps. In the narrator’s interpretation of this island W, the competitors who win get awarded with food, the competitors who lose get nothing and starve, making them weaker. This creates a continuous cycle of the strong getting stronger and the weak getting weaker. It is a game of luck and misconduct that reflects the treatment of those suffering at the hands of the Nazi takeover. 

I was unaware and found it shocking that the summer Olympics were hosted in Berlin in 1936, known as the Nazi Olympics. I was shocked when I searched it up and found out that such a huge event like the Olympics was held during these horrific times, especially in Germany. For this to occur, it showed such a lack of humanity and no recognition of the injustices.

My question for the class is: How do the two narratives compare regarding the two men witnessing and being a part of injustice in their environment?

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This week, I read Georges Perec, W, or the Memory of Childhood a story about two characters, alternating between chapters. I found this style of narrative interesting because we can better compare the two. I expected the book to be confusing with two narratives, but Perec did a great job of making it clear and easy to read. While reading the second narrative of Gaspard Winkler, I sensed that some of the conditions being told had an underlying meaning that related to the first narrative of Perec. It was clear both the characters are going through their separate journeys but share a lot in common by witnessing similar conditions.  

It was sad to read about the narrator trying so hard to remember his childhood memories. I felt a strong sense of displacement that the narrator was feeling from the impacts of the war. With the narrator being born in 1936, he spent many of his developmental years in the fear that being impacted by the second World War brings. Living in those circumstances and growing up in that environment has left him shattered as he tries to pick up the pieces and form memories from vague moments and photographs. This story could be one of many children at that time losing their parents, living in fear, and being too young to even understand why. 

In the book, the narrator takes us to the island W where a similar competition like the Olympics takes place. This island W reflects the Nazi’s organized death camps. In the narrator’s interpretation of this island W, the competitors who win get awarded with food, the competitors who lose get nothing and starve, making them weaker. This creates a continuous cycle of the strong getting stronger and the weak getting weaker. It is a game of luck and misconduct that reflects the treatment of those suffering at the hands of the Nazi takeover. 

I was unaware and found it shocking that the summer Olympics were hosted in Berlin in 1936, known as the Nazi Olympics. I was shocked when I searched it up and found out that such a huge event like the Olympics was held during these horrific times, especially in Germany. For this to occur, it showed such a lack of humanity and no recognition of the injustices.

My question for the class is: How do the two narratives compare regarding the two men witnessing and being a part of injustice in their environment?

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This week, I read ‘W, or the memory of childhood’ by Perec Georges.

I was confused at first. In part one, the narrator mentioned how his father died when he was 6 and got adopted by his father’s neighbours. However, in part two his father died when he was 4 and was adopted by his father’s sister and her husband. Then I re-read it and found out that they have mentioned this story will be alternating between two texts. The narrator switched from one story to another. I found this kind of transition distracting as I couldn't figure if the texts had switched to the other or not. However, it got better as the story progressed because I realized that we are able to tell the story has been switched by the font. One text is in Italic font and the other is not. 

Despite the narrator mentioning how he has no memories of his childhood, he kept trying to recall the memories of when he was a kid. His parents passed away when he was young and he barely has any memories with them, yet he still talks about them. On page 12, he mentioned “like everyone else, or almost everyone, I had a father and a mother, a potty, a cat, a rattle, and, later on, a bicycle…Like everyone else, I have forgotten everything about the earliest years of my existence”. I found that texts give off the feelings of loneliness. He may just be expressing that he is like others and has what everyone needs at first. To me, it feels more like he has lost his sense of identity and is sarcastic at the fact that he ‘started’ just like ‘everyone else’. I feel sorry for him as it seems to me that he is trying to connect himself to his parents by the memories of others and the stuff he possesses (ex: photograph of his parents). As the narrator does not have many memories with them, most of the information he knows about them is being told by others (his aunts). He even saved up the money his aunt had given him for the bus just to buy a soldier toy. I believe the reason he got it is due to his father. He wanted to feel more connected to him. 

The question I have for the class is: Do you think one is able to find a sense of belonging from their memories?

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This week, I read ‘W, or the memory of childhood’ by Perec Georges.

I was confused at first. In part one, the narrator mentioned how his father died when he was 6 and got adopted by his father’s neighbours. However, in part two his father died when he was 4 and was adopted by his father’s sister and her husband. Then I re-read it and found out that they have mentioned this story will be alternating between two texts. The narrator switched from one story to another. I found this kind of transition distracting as I couldn't figure if the texts had switched to the other or not. However, it got better as the story progressed because I realized that we are able to tell the story has been switched by the font. One text is in Italic font and the other is not. 

Despite the narrator mentioning how he has no memories of his childhood, he kept trying to recall the memories of when he was a kid. His parents passed away when he was young and he barely has any memories with them, yet he still talks about them. On page 12, he mentioned “like everyone else, or almost everyone, I had a father and a mother, a potty, a cat, a rattle, and, later on, a bicycle…Like everyone else, I have forgotten everything about the earliest years of my existence”. I found that texts give off the feelings of loneliness. He may just be expressing that he is like others and has what everyone needs at first. To me, it feels more like he has lost his sense of identity and is sarcastic at the fact that he ‘started’ just like ‘everyone else’. I feel sorry for him as it seems to me that he is trying to connect himself to his parents by the memories of others and the stuff he possesses (ex: photograph of his parents). As the narrator does not have many memories with them, most of the information he knows about them is being told by others (his aunts). He even saved up the money his aunt had given him for the bus just to buy a soldier toy. I believe the reason he got it is due to his father. He wanted to feel more connected to him. 

The question I have for the class is: Do you think one is able to find a sense of belonging from their memories?

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I admittedly found this novel fairly hard to follow; the switching back and forth between different narratives was initially confusing. However, on the theme of memories that have been fractured in some way, perhaps the fragmented writing style of the author is appropriate.  The autobiographical portions of the novel take a somber tone as the […] read full post >>

This week’s novel, W, or the Memory of Childhood by Georges Perec, contains two alternating texts. The author claims these two texts merge together into one to tell a story that can’t be told without the other. At first, I thought it was an interesting idea, especially since one of the texts is an autobiography, […] read full post >>

I have to start by saying this book is nothing like any book I have read before in the fact that there aren’t just two stories going on, but one being an autobiography and the other being fiction. In saying this, I did not enjoy the stories as much as I was hoping to, as …

Continue reading "Georges Perec “W, or the Memory of Childhood”"

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The very first emotion when I finished this reading was enjoyment and a little excitement. Because the book takes readers through fluctuational stories along with emotional up and down. The book consists of two storylines; a fictional story about an island called “W” and a story based on the narrator’s own childhood memory. The contrast […] read full post >>

This week I read W, or the Memory of Childhood. The structure of this novel was very unique, two books in one. As readers, we were challenged to see how the two fit together and decide if they did at … Continue reading → read full post >>

Georges Perec’s W or the Memory of Childhood  is a work of postmodern literature. From my personal viewpoint, the style and the experience of reading it is comparable to reading the use of surrealism in  Louis Aragon’s Paris Peasant. Both are works that need more time for reflection on the abstract concepts about life that are […] read full post >>

Perec gave us “W or The Memory of Childhood” to share his illustrative vision of the Holocaust, both in a personal and figurative aspect. Throughout the book, we see the contrast of these two parallel stories, one being autobiographical and the other (seemingly) being on a  fictional (based on real events) premise. His autobiography emerges […] read full post >>

Georges Perec’s W, or the Memory of Childhood reveals the irreparable experience of trauma in rather mysterious ways. When reading it, I feel that the entire novel is associated with a special technique frequently used in filmmaking, named montage. Perec used different locations, perspectives, and narrative methods to enhance the willingness of the readers’ deep […] read full post >>

While reading Georges Perec’s W, or the Memory of Childhood, I appreciated right off the bat the clarity they provided. This book has two texts alternating, one is completely imaginary and the other is an autobiography. After completing the book, it felt hard to know exactly how the two fit together to compliment each other, […] read full post >>

If I were to pick a word that reflects this story, I would choose “remember”. The narrator uses the word remember consistently throughout this book to introduce his certainty about a specific memory, for example: “I have a vague memory” “I don’t have a precise memory” “I do not remember” “I can hardly remember”, all […] read full post >>

This week I read W, or the Memory of Childhood. The article unfolds in two lines, one describing the author's childhood memories and the other telling the story of W the Olympic Island. In the article, the main character, an orphan, takes the eponymous Winkler's place by forging documents to escape military service. The real Winckler is a deaf and autistic child whose mother died in a mysterious shipwreck. Curious about the whereabouts of the real Winckler in the wreck, the investigators find the impostor and analyze the accident with him. Investigators finally analyze shipwreck logs and the harrowing scenes of Winckler's death and speculate that Winckler may have escaped or been abandoned. We don't know what the truth is, and the horrific scenes of the accident are an acceptable way to bring out the senses of the accident. After a brief opening description of the accident that seems to be the introduction, the author unfolds two threads: the story of W Island and his childhood memories.

The two storylines seem to operate independently but vaguely reveal an interconnection. While reading the book, the interchange of the two scenes often gave me a sense of surprise, and while I was still amazed at the system on W Island, the next page became the author's seemingly uneventful childhood memories. Much of the article feels fragmented, whether it is the author's recollections with the help of a few photos, the fragmented memories of relatives, the paragraph structure of the article, or the distribution of chapters interspersed with the story of W Island and the author's memories. One can experience a sense of fragmentation of memory. These fragmented memories seem to be submerged in the general history without elaboration, making one feel that these fleeting childhood memories are only an insignificant part of the times. When the author shares his experiences with relatives and friends, he often gets their doubts and disbeliefs, as if these memories never happened. This independent and uncertain recollection leads the author to mention in the text, "I have no childhood memories. " 

In another line, on W, an island with a harsh system but full of uncertainty about the fate of people, the author allows us to glimpse a corner of the concentration camp madness in the author's imagination by describing the slave-like future of the athletes and the various absurd competition systems. In the initial reading of this part of W, we can see the gap between the athletes who win the championship and the "newcomers" who only see the difference in their lives on the island. Those who win get food, flowers and wine to maintain their nutrition, while those who lose get weaker and weaker because they don't get the nutrients they need, making it harder and harder to win. This sounds like the winner will keep winning the game, while the loser will only be fixed in a specific opportunity after one chance. However, through a more profound understanding of the game system, we can find that the situation between people is rapidly changing and full of uncertainty. That strength is not the decisive factor in this game, but luck is the more critical element for the athletes, so they indulge in today's victory because they do not know what awaits them tomorrow. They seem to be fighting for the Olympic spirit, but in the end, it is the officials who are not involved in the struggle that control their fate. And the athletes can never become officials and win their true victory.

My question in this essay is: How do the author's childhood memories relate to the story of W Island?

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