The text W, or the Memory of Childhood by Georges Perec, is multiple different stories that are woven together in which the reader has to make sense of the novel. To begin with, the novel itself was incredibly confusing for me. I found that while the novel’s content was interesting, I was left confused from […]
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with childhood, double life, memory
Although I thought that this ended up being a great book, I didn’t particularly like the writing style that this book was done in. The double narration sometimes made story details and characters feel blurred together between the two stories that were being told. This made it very hard for me to become interested and […]
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with childhood, memory, nostalgia, trauma, war
It was interesting to read the beginning of the book about the French translation, and as a French speaker myself I was able to fully comprehend (or at least I think I could) what was being explained on page 6 of the introductory pages. In French, the letter W is “double-vé” meaning double letter v, …
Continue reading “The “Double Life” in Perec’s “W, or the Memory of Childhood””
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with autobiography, childhood, double life, fiction, memory
This novel was unlike any novel I’ve read before, from the alternating narratives to the magical realism to the truths revealed of the unreliability and significance of childhood and memory. To begin with, I have always loved the use of repetition as a poetic tool, and Perec’s use of lists in the early chapters of […]
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with childhood, history, injustice, memory, postmodernism, reminiscing
This reading was a little easier and fun for me because of the dual narrative. I personally find it easier…
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with childhood, memory, narratives, nazi, nostalgia, olympics
This weeks reading originally was very hard for me to follow, and I found I actually had to restart twice to be able to form the proper differentiation between the two narratives. However, once I grasped the back and forth I found Perec’s work very enjoyable and insightful. It got me thinking a lot about […]
This week while reading “W or The Memory of Childhood” by Georges Perec, I felt as if I was reading someone’s personal diary mixed with some odd dark version of the Olympics. I found it a bit difficult to follow the two narratives (especially with the copious amount of footnotes) but as the book went … Continue reading “Thoughts on Perec’s W or The Memory of Childhood”
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with death, memory, narrative, trauma
W, or the Memory of Childhood is kind of a confusing book that is open for many interpretations. The fact that it was a story written with different narratives and storylines was something I had not read that often, which was kind of interesting. I can absolutely see the postmodern influence of Perec’s writing all […]
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with childhood, family, memories, memory, narrator, postmodern
This week’s reading of W or The Memory of Childhood was reflective and insightful about the author’s experience. At the start of the book, I was confused for a while about the significance of the second story about Gaspard Winkler, but as the story of W progressed I was able to start comparing it to Perec’s experience. I loved the style the author wrote this novel in. The autobiography paired with the fictional island of W gave the text different elements that provide the reader more to think about.
The narration from Perec’s perspective showed fragments of his childhood memories. He lost both of his parents to World War II at a very young age. I think the trauma caused him to repress his memories as he was often not sure about all the specifics in his own memories. A lot of the language in this narrative was hesitant, words like vague, hazy, and many I don’t remember or I don’t recall. The author says it himself on page 68, “What marks this period especially is the absence of landmarks: these memories are scraps of life snatched from the void. No mooring. Nothing to anchor them or hold them down. Almost no way of ratifying them. No sequence in time, except as I have reconstructed it arbitrarily over the years.”
In the second narrative the army deserter, Gaspard Winckler journeys to the island W, where a brutal version of the Olympic games takes place. This story combined with Perec’s life story highlights the fight for survival so many people, Perec included had to face. The brutality and cruelty in these games, I think, are somewhat of a metaphor for the concentration camps and the treatment of the Jewish people along with the other prisoners held by the Nazis. While reading about the W it seems impossible or only fiction for a society to function as this one does. I was slow to understand why it was even in this book, but from the middle, towards the end, it became clear that W was referencing power relations and the extent of oppression groups of people can be shown by other groups. On the last page, the excerpt from David Rousset’s Univers concentrationnaire we see that the harsh reality Perec illustrates in the fictional W is taken directly from real events.
My question for the class is: How does comparing the conditions faced in WW2 to W help Perec or the reader process these events?
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with life, memory, power, war
This week’s reading of W or The Memory of Childhood was reflective and insightful about the author’s experience. At the start of the book, I was confused for a while about the significance of the second story about Gaspard Winkler, but as the story of W progressed I was able to start comparing it to Perec’s experience. I loved the style the author wrote this novel in. The autobiography paired with the fictional island of W gave the text different elements that provide the reader more to think about.
The narration from Perec’s perspective showed fragments of his childhood memories. He lost both of his parents to World War II at a very young age. I think the trauma caused him to repress his memories as he was often not sure about all the specifics in his own memories. A lot of the language in this narrative was hesitant, words like vague, hazy, and many I don’t remember or I don’t recall. The author says it himself on page 68, “What marks this period especially is the absence of landmarks: these memories are scraps of life snatched from the void. No mooring. Nothing to anchor them or hold them down. Almost no way of ratifying them. No sequence in time, except as I have reconstructed it arbitrarily over the years.”
In the second narrative the army deserter, Gaspard Winckler journeys to the island W, where a brutal version of the Olympic games takes place. This story combined with Perec’s life story highlights the fight for survival so many people, Perec included had to face. The brutality and cruelty in these games, I think, are somewhat of a metaphor for the concentration camps and the treatment of the Jewish people along with the other prisoners held by the Nazis. While reading about the W it seems impossible or only fiction for a society to function as this one does. I was slow to understand why it was even in this book, but from the middle, towards the end, it became clear that W was referencing power relations and the extent of oppression groups of people can be shown by other groups. On the last page, the excerpt from David Rousset’s Univers concentrationnaire we see that the harsh reality Perec illustrates in the fictional W is taken directly from real events.
My question for the class is: How does comparing the conditions faced in WW2 to W help Perec or the reader process these events?
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with life, memory, power, war
