The dialectic of silence and remembrance in Lily Brett’s ''Things could be worse''
Miniatura indisponível
Data
2011
Autores
Título da revista
ISSN da revista
Título do Volume
Editora
Edições Universitárias Lusófonas
Resumo
The dynamics of silence and remembrance in Australian writer Lily Brett’s autobiographic fiction
Things Could Be Worse reflects the crisis of memory and understanding experienced by both first
and second-generation Holocaust survivors within the diasporic space of contemporary Australia. It
leads to issues of handling traumatic and transgenerational memory, the latter also known as postmemory
(M. Hirsch), in the long aftermath of atrocities, and problematises the role of forgetting in
shielding displaced identities against total dissolution of the self.
This paper explores the mechanisms of remembrance and forgetting in L. Brett’s narrative by mainly
focusing on two female characters, mother and daughter, whose coming to terms with (the necessary)
silence, on the one hand, and articulated memories, on the other, reflects different modes of
comprehending and eventually coping with individual trauma. By differentiating between several
types of silence encountered in Brett’s prose (that of the voiceless victims, of survivors and their
offspring, respectively), I argue that silence can equally voice and hush traumatic experience, that
it is never empty, but invested with individual and collective meaning. Essentially, I contend that
beside the (self-)damaging effects of silence, there are also beneficial consequences of it, in that it
plays a crucial role in emplacing the displaced, rebuilding their shattered self, and contributing to
their reintegration, survival and even partial healing.
Descrição
Babilónia : Revista Lusófona de Línguas, Culturas e Tradução
Palavras-chave
LINGUÍSTICA, LITERATURA, SILÊNCIO, AUTOBIOGRAFIAS, FICÇÃO, ANÁLISE LITERÁRIA, LINGUISTICS, LITERATURE, SILENCE, AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, FICTION, LITERARY ANALYSIS