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 […]
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with authorial intent, dystopian, georges, hyperrealism, Imagination, pain, Surrealism, the real, trauma, war
Georges Perec’s W or the Memory of Childhood examines themes of memory, childhood, and war through two unique separate stories….
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with childhood, France, memory, trauma, ww2
Finally! An author I know! I have been SLOWLY reading Perec’s A Void for ages now, I really cant get into it because I keep just rereading sections to make sure there is really no ‘e’ there. I have to admit the difficulty I had reading A Void did not give me much hope for this book. I could talk extensively about my appreciation of A Void in an artistic, boundary pushing, breaking away from norms wowee kinda way but as a book goes, it is kinda rough to read honestly. Anyway! Onto the book I am actually meant to be writing about. W, or the Memory of Childhood was pleasantly read-able for me. It became very quickly obvious that there was two seperate sets of memories that were intertwined into eachother. A note at the beginning of the book brough to my attention that ‘W’ should not be thought of as ‘double-u’ as in French it is called ‘double vé.’ I do not know what the word in French but in Spanish I first thought of vida which I guess I should note means life incase you don’t know. The title fits perfectly for the two intertwining stories being told.
The more fantastical storyline occuring in this novel struck me as a childs coping mechanism at first. I know atleast the part about the island W is based off of a story Perec wrote at 13. When this storyline switched over to focusing on the island I was immediately struck by how cultish it felt. I was intrigued and really found myself looking forward to the next part. The extreme conditions the athletes lived in were representative of what Perec’s mother went through in the concentration camps in real life. This comparison lead me to further realize thar this fantastical story was like a parallel world to real life. A still pretty depressing reimagination of the horrific things that a 13 year old may not have been able to fully comprehend.
I pretty quickly became a lot more interested in the story about the island than the chapters about Perec’s fragmented and warped childhood memories but overall I really enjoyed both. It was depressing honestly, it wasn’t because of what I was reading but the context around it and this sorta childlike but also disturbing tale being told at the same time made me sad. I am done rambling now I think, I have no other thoughts about this that I can word well. To wrap this up I have a very simple question, which part of this story interested you more?
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with memories, trauma
Finally! An author I know! I have been SLOWLY reading Perec’s A Void for ages now, I really cant get into it because I keep just rereading sections to make sure there is really no ‘e’ there. I have to admit the difficulty I had reading A Void did not give me much hope for this book. I could talk extensively about my appreciation of A Void in an artistic, boundary pushing, breaking away from norms wowee kinda way but as a book goes, it is kinda rough to read honestly. Anyway! Onto the book I am actually meant to be writing about. W, or the Memory of Childhood was pleasantly read-able for me. It became very quickly obvious that there was two seperate sets of memories that were intertwined into eachother. A note at the beginning of the book brough to my attention that ‘W’ should not be thought of as ‘double-u’ as in French it is called ‘double vé.’ I do not know what the word in French but in Spanish I first thought of vida which I guess I should note means life incase you don’t know. The title fits perfectly for the two intertwining stories being told.
The more fantastical storyline occuring in this novel struck me as a childs coping mechanism at first. I know atleast the part about the island W is based off of a story Perec wrote at 13. When this storyline switched over to focusing on the island I was immediately struck by how cultish it felt. I was intrigued and really found myself looking forward to the next part. The extreme conditions the athletes lived in were representative of what Perec’s mother went through in the concentration camps in real life. This comparison lead me to further realize thar this fantastical story was like a parallel world to real life. A still pretty depressing reimagination of the horrific things that a 13 year old may not have been able to fully comprehend.
I pretty quickly became a lot more interested in the story about the island than the chapters about Perec’s fragmented and warped childhood memories but overall I really enjoyed both. It was depressing honestly, it wasn’t because of what I was reading but the context around it and this sorta childlike but also disturbing tale being told at the same time made me sad. I am done rambling now I think, I have no other thoughts about this that I can word well. To wrap this up I have a very simple question, which part of this story interested you more?
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with memories, trauma
This novel confronts the theme of memory quite differently than the others we’ve previously read. Most of the texts I’d read before this speak from a point of memory, past-tense, and experience, whereas Perec approached memories that weren’t there. It brought an alternate perspective of how some have the privilege of accessing and reflecting on […]
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with childhood, France, hesitation, holocaust, loss, memory, Romance text, trauma, uncertainty, war
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
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 […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with autobiography, childhood, fiction, memories, trauma