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 memory and the way it impacts our lives.
Just like the reading, memories are complex and multi-faceted, as well as unique to everyone. Two people who lived the same event will likely not remember it the same way. I think in a way the reading reflects this aspect of memory, how they are often confusing and not always 100% accurate to how the event unfolded. We see Perec’s “false memories” so to say, intertwined with the real ones, blurring the lines between what was reality and what is just a story. This could be due to Perec being an unreliable narrator, or it could be a reflection of how fluid memory is. I’ve heard that every time you remember a memory, you are not actually remember what happened, but you are remembering the last time you remembered it. If this is true, every time we remember, we get further and further from reality of what happened.
We see Perec correcting himself on descriptions he gives, for example, when he is talking about being evacuated by the Red Cross. He questions whether his arm was in a sling or not, which seems like it would be a fairly simple thing to remember. This leads me to wonder how much of the story is accurate at all, perhaps Perec has repressed his memories to the point of nothing truly being as he perceives it now. In a way, both stories could have been works of fiction.
I think memory is such an interesting thing to think about, especially since we can never experience somebodies memories as our own, we can be invited in to share them, but we will never fully understand situations of someones life without having lived them the exact same way they did. My question after this is at what point do most memories lose their accuracy? Is it common for our all memories to be slightly incorrect? And how will we ever know if what we remember is accurate? Likely, we will not be able to, which is both comforting and upsetting.
Laura, I am intrigued by what you have to say about remembering remembrances (I had not heard this before, and I wonder if you can recall where you have…)
and, I like the way that you challenge the “autobiography = truth” and “fiction = not reality” in Perec’s novel. You say that, “In a way, both stories could have been works of fiction,” but I wonder if, on the flip side, we could also say that both might contain truths, or aspects of truth…
“…every time you remember a memory, you are not actually remember what happened, but you are remembering the last time you remembered it” – love this thought! Never thought about this but it sounds so true.
On your question: one of my greatest fears has been forgetting important moments in life, i.e., not having accurate memories of events/people I value right now. I think this fear comes from what you’re saying – that memories seem to lose accuracy over time and are perhaps all incorrect in some way. So I do agree. The only way around that I have found is to capture moments and people through journaling and taking pictures!
Hi Laura, thanks for the blog post! I really liked what you wrote about how we remember memories. I also noticed the negations within the narration, and thought this created a personal touch to the writing. Memories are a complex thing, and you really touched on this in your blog post by making connections to Perec’s stories and memories. Thanks!
Hi Laura, I enjoyed reading your thoughts on this week’s reading and how it relates to memory and the reliability of the narrator. To answer your question, I think although we may have inaccurate memories, the way we remember can tell us more about our own perspectives and how we process our past.