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 on, I found myself quite immersed in the two worlds.
Despite the title, the narrator expresses “I have no childhood memories” (pg.6), however the autobiographical part of the book reads as a desperate attempt to salvage and revive them. The memories he has seem to be the only thing left of his identity because he is constantly on the run for safety., “…living another illegal existence, with another fragile alibi, with another fabricated past and another identity?” (pg.11). He doesn’t seem to have much to live for, with all his loved one’s dead, and is more surviving day to day as a ghost. Other than his memories of the past, as readers we don’t know many objective facts about our protagonist.
Unlike in Proust’s “Combray” or Laforet’s “Nada” where objects or places trigger certain memories, Perec seems to go out of his way to explain that physical spaces or objects do not. When reflecting on photographs, he simply describes what is pictured and nothing more. From one of the photos explaining that “of all my missing memories, that is perhaps one I most dearly wish I had” (pg.49). When visiting Rue Vilin where he lived in Paris, he explains that he doesn’t remember which part he lived in, and he hasn’t attempted to go inside any of the dwellings “since I am in any case convinced that it would do nothing to revive my memories” (pg. 48). When I read this, I was doubting the narrator’s intentions of not revisiting the place in which he grew up. Does he really think it would not revive his memories or is he too traumatized to face them? I think trauma is an important aspect of our protagonist’s narrative due to the historical context he’s grown up in and being a low-class Jewish child. I’m not a psychology major but I think that a main trauma response is to just black out those memories. It made me wonder is this what the narrator is experiencing with his so called “lost memories”? Do we trust the accuracy of our narrator despite the trauma that may affect the story? Does it even matter?
Hi Anna!
I had similar thoughts about the accuracy of the narrators memories, and to answer your question, I don’t really trust the accuracy of them, however, I also don’t think it matters. To the narrator, this is as close to memory as he seems to be able to get, so in a sense it is accurate to his best understanding. This doesn’t mean that is how everything in his life occurred, but as you mentioned, he seems to be grasping for any sign of memory he might have of the people he loved. Memory is a funny thing in the sense that it can play tricks on you, many of us likely have memories that are not true or accurate, but to us they are as real as can possibly be.
Hey Anna, your comparison to Combray and Nada in terms of triggering memories was interesting, I hadn’t considered how this book completely contradicts the notion that our environments and experiences can trigger our memories. Maybe all the narrator needs is to dip a Madeleine in some tea and he’ll remember everything! To answer your question, I don’t think I trust the narrator, he doesn’t even try to make us trust him either as he often leads his story with “I don’t recall …” etc, but I suppose it doesn’t matter because it is his story and his trauma and nevertheless we can all takeaway that Hitler’s regime was inhumane and brutal and caused scarring trauma for millions of people. Thanks for your post 🙂
Hey Anna! Great post 🙂 In response to your question, I actually do trust this narrator. I think his self-doubt and backtracking through memories renders the novel much more honest in my eyes. Memories are often fragmented, and Perec illustrates this authentically and in a manner true to his experiences. I also like that you talk about loss of memory as a result of trauma. Trauma is indeed a large part of this novel.
Anna, I like what you have to say about the convergence and divergence with memory in Proust. Have you checked out the conversation video Jon just posted on Perec? (https://rmst202.arts.ubc.ca/on-georges-perec/). Specifically the 4-6 minute mark! It made me think of your observation here…