[I posted a comment to Jason's post]
Hey guys,
Hey guys,
I read through the coursepack reading over the weekend, so I'll throw up some of my notes.
At the Membrane of Language and Silence: Metaphor and Memory in Fugitive Pieces (Meria Cook, Canadian Literature 164, Spring 2000)
-This essay, like the others, only refers to FP in relation to the Holocaust.. One thing I've disliked about the articles given (and what I've seen of other articles online) is that critics focus mostly on the Holocaust aspects of the novel, and the discussion of other elements is tightly wound around discussion of Jewish issues. Interesting aspects, but considering that we don't want to focus too much on that, I was frustrated.
Quote - Literature: 'in the wake of the Holocaust it must
find new ways to represent the elisions and failures of grief when it is used as
a system of discourse. The problem of writing after is also the problem
of how to represent the impossible event faithfully while avoiding a betrayal
both of history and of the victim' (p12)
-The above quote is a perfect example. What is essentially a discussion of historiographic concerns is tied in with issues linked with the Holocaust. I know I read this element of book along the lines of others in the course, as a 'simple' discussion of grief, remembrance and representation. The 'sidelined' or 'hidden' stories - like in Alias G, Ana Historic, and certainly Skin of a Lion..
-The same is also seen in relation to fragmentation and memory - 'her arrangement of memory and history as necessarily fragmented' (p12) and:
Quote - 'Constructed as a narrative that cannot be fully captured in thought,
memory, or writing, that cannot even be adequately retransmitted from writer
to reader, Michaels' FP is a sustained exploration of memory, represented
through imagery and metaphor, on the understanding that such writing is
constituted by the very incomprehensibility of its occurrence' (p13)
- The above quote also brings in metaphor. I know I brought up the use of geological terms in the meeting. The article brings all the instances of metaphor (again, something I didn't focus on too much in my own reading).
- There is also the point that narration has a pacifying, mollifying effect on the narrated actions: 'both Jakob and Ben are aware of the paradox that, once narrated, the horror or obscenity is no longer either horrifying or obscene: instead it is essentially narratable, representable' (p16).
-Also:
Quote - 'Michaels' lush, poetic discourse jars uneasily with the horrors she is
narrating and so contributes to our discomfort as readers, at the same time that
it provides a way of thinking about metaphor and metonymy as figurative devices
that alternatively reveal and conceal the materiality of the event... When brutality, lovemaking, and the pragmatism of daily living are all described in Michaels' habitual mode of high lyricism, a prevailing flatness results.' (p16)
- I'd like to think that this is going a little far. Again, these points are interesting - and might be useful for discussion - but they did not occur to me as I read the book. Actually, I'm more inclined to think that this is the critic writing their own opinions ('I didn't like the style', 'how dare the book be about the Holocaust yet not') into the analysis. Pages 16-17 read like a person putting personal hangups into critical language in the framework of a structured, argued, pointed analysis (and it doesn't really fulfil much of a purpose in the article).
- There is a lot of discussion of the use of metaphor (p18-19). This is good stuff, and useful in our discussion of cultural memory. 'The grave-diggers who assimilate the cultural and individual memories of the corpses they disinter are no different in kind to Jakob', 'blood knowledge', 'the cultural imprint of the dead upon the living' (p19).
- One possible link with other novels (Green Grass and No Great Mischief) is the homeward impulse. Athos' father returning to Zakynthos, Jakob returns to the ghetto (in writing) and Idhra, Ben (who is Jakob's 'son') goes to Idhra as well. Here's a quote I like (and you can see how FP avoids the sentimental returns of GGRR and NGM):
Quote: 'The male characters in Michaels' novel compulsively return to the place
of origins but their returns are never sufficient because in the journey
something is always lost in translation, forgotten, erased, misrecognised or
elided.'
- Towards the end of the article, Cook quite succinctly explains the use and function of metaphor in the novel:
'Like memory, the metaphor gestures toward the unseen, the invisible, to what is
not available upon the surface of the text or within a superficial reading but
which may be discerned upon careful excavation' (p26)
"Afterbirth of Earth", Messianic Materialism in Anne Michaels' Fugitive Pieces (Annick Hillger, Canadian Literature 160, 1999)
- This article brings in a lot of Derrida and Marx. There's a paraphrase of Derrida - 'In describing the impossibility of deconstructing justice, he urges us to take responsibility for the past as present and to relate to the dead as living' (p28)
- This idea is good for the discussion of grief and its relation to memory.
- Again, this article mostly discusses the issues presented by FP within a Jewish-Holocaust framework (although I think there is more to salvage):
- This idea is good for the discussion of grief and its relation to memory.
- Again, this article mostly discusses the issues presented by FP within a Jewish-Holocaust framework (although I think there is more to salvage):
'Benjamin writes within a specifically Jewish tradition of remembrance... he revises the marxist dialectical conception of history by departing from a linear, continuous concept of time and introducing a notion of the present which brings the dialectics of historical materialism to a standstill... Rather than conceiving of the historian as someone who merely gathers the facts about the past - as certain ersions of historicism would have it - Benjamin envisages the historian as someone who finds traces of hope in the past in order to achieve a redemption of the present.' (p29)
- [sidepoint on materialism] I didn't know about this, so I looked it up - here's the Oxford Online Dictionary low-down (dictionary.oed.com):
- [back to the article] It is around this area that the article starts speaking in both theological and philosophical realms. I get lost a little, especially because not much of it is incredibly applicable to our points. But maybe some of the more philosophically (religious-side) will be interesting to others.
- The idea of mourning or grief being inherent is linked to a 'Jewish tradition':
- This article also brings up a recurring image, which might be useful for our analysis and presentation. As we've already said - Athos is a geologist, and there is a great deal of geological terms used. Hillger says 'Athos is a geologist and archeologist, someone who digs the earth in order to find traces of the past' (p30). There is a lot of discussion of the metaphoric relevance of Biskupin - 'a site of historical silencing and recuperation' (p31). There is reference made to the Nazi appropriation of the site, and how the Ahnenerbe 'deliberately misread [the findings] for ideological reasons, namely in order to prove the supposed superiority of the German people':
- There is more discussion of Greek and Judaic philosophy on p31-35, discussion of wordplay and suggestion, as well as a healthy dose of Kabbalah and Lurian teachings. I didn't take too much from these pages, as it's not tied in with our points, or my interest/knowledge. It might be interesting to use in essays, though. Actually, I didn't take much from the rest of the article itself, so what follows are some quotes/notes that relate to what we've mentioned earlier.
- Geological analogy: 'Images of geological rupture echo notions of social rupture. Moments of radical social change are like events that have radically altered the course of natural history' (p33)
The City as a Site of Counter-Memory (Meredith Criglington, Essays on Canadian Writing 81, 2004)
- This article draws reference to both Fugitive Pieces and In the Skin of a Lion - this is useful for cross-text reference. Criglington discusses monuments and objects as informing and perpetuating memory. It starts with the dual image of the two official memorials for 9/11 - The Sphere and Ground Zero:
- There is a really good description of the (narrative) form of memory in relation to historiographic metafiction:
- The idea of 'counter-memory' is introduced, and a fellow called Lipsitz is quoted:
- This is very much in line with the engagement with traditional linear, exclusive, and objective history that we've seen so far in the couse.
-There is discussion of In the Skin of a Lion between pages 133-140. There are some good points, but I'll leave out quotes, because this post is already long and we're focusing on FP, after all.
- The discussion of FP starts on p140, so I'll go on from there. There are echoes of the previous articles in this quote:
- I must admit that I don't have much else left. I think that the rest of the article repeats itself.
The final article, Universals, by Arun Mukherjee, is very interesting, especially in its discussion of universality in philosophy, history and human understanding. I think it's a really good essay to finish the course on, and it articulates arguments that we have had throughout (objectivity/subjectivity etc), but as it does not directly engage with FP, I'll leave it out of this post.
I hope this post has been helpful.
Mike
materialism n. - Philos. Originally: the theory or belief that nothing exists except matter and its movements and modifications. Now also more narrowly: the theory or belief that mental phenomena are nothing more than, or are wholly caused by, the operation of material or physical agencies.
- [back to the article] It is around this area that the article starts speaking in both theological and philosophical realms. I get lost a little, especially because not much of it is incredibly applicable to our points. But maybe some of the more philosophically (religious-side) will be interesting to others.
- The idea of mourning or grief being inherent is linked to a 'Jewish tradition':
'Rather than distancing themselves from the past by referring to the dead as "they," those who speak in the present are called upon to "collapse time" by using the communal pronoun "we," thus including what a linear conception of time would by definition exclude from the present... Michaels formulates an ethics that transgresses the mere now and she speaks of the "responsibility of the past" as a legacy handed down to the living by the dead. In practical terms, this ethics consists in telling and retelling the story of those who can no longer speak for themselves, for the past and the present are parts of an ongoing communal story and cannot be told once and for all' (p30)
- This article also brings up a recurring image, which might be useful for our analysis and presentation. As we've already said - Athos is a geologist, and there is a great deal of geological terms used. Hillger says 'Athos is a geologist and archeologist, someone who digs the earth in order to find traces of the past' (p30). There is a lot of discussion of the metaphoric relevance of Biskupin - 'a site of historical silencing and recuperation' (p31). There is reference made to the Nazi appropriation of the site, and how the Ahnenerbe 'deliberately misread [the findings] for ideological reasons, namely in order to prove the supposed superiority of the German people':
'Clearly, the Ahnenerbe's aim was to impose one reading onto the past and silence other possible interpretations... Throughout his life Athos makes a point of setting right the distortions of historiography... He starts writing a book called Bearing False Witness, for to bear witness is a moral responsibility he feels towards those who either have not had the opportunity to speak or whose testimony has been erased.' (p31)
- There is more discussion of Greek and Judaic philosophy on p31-35, discussion of wordplay and suggestion, as well as a healthy dose of Kabbalah and Lurian teachings. I didn't take too much from these pages, as it's not tied in with our points, or my interest/knowledge. It might be interesting to use in essays, though. Actually, I didn't take much from the rest of the article itself, so what follows are some quotes/notes that relate to what we've mentioned earlier.
- Geological analogy: 'Images of geological rupture echo notions of social rupture. Moments of radical social change are like events that have radically altered the course of natural history' (p33)
The City as a Site of Counter-Memory (Meredith Criglington, Essays on Canadian Writing 81, 2004)
- This article draws reference to both Fugitive Pieces and In the Skin of a Lion - this is useful for cross-text reference. Criglington discusses monuments and objects as informing and perpetuating memory. It starts with the dual image of the two official memorials for 9/11 - The Sphere and Ground Zero:
'Like all public monuments, these memorials are ideologically charged representations of national and communal identity, and as such they invite different interpretations... In any case, these memorials remind us not only of the tragedy of September 11 but also, more generally of the imaginary and material significance of the city as a site of power and resistance and of history and memory.' (p129)
- There is a really good description of the (narrative) form of memory in relation to historiographic metafiction:
'As the monuments to the World Trade Center attest, linking past and present through a specific place is a common feature of memorial and elegiac forms. Memory's relative or chronotopic structure provides a critical model for examining representations of the past. The shifting, mediated, and constructed nature of memory challenges more traditional historiographic modes that tend to appear static, transcendent and naturalised... Moreover, that memory is partial, in the double sense of being incomplete and subjective, creates slippages and gaps through which contesting voices, or even silences, can emerge' (p130)
- The idea of 'counter-memory' is introduced, and a fellow called Lipsitz is quoted:
'Counter-memory is a way of remembering and forgetting that starts with the local, the immediate, and the personal. Unlike historical narratives that begin with the totality of human existence and then locate specific actions and events within that totality, counter-memory starts with the particular and the specific and then builds outward towards a total story... counter-memory forces revision of existing histories by supplying new perspectives about the past' (p131)
- This is very much in line with the engagement with traditional linear, exclusive, and objective history that we've seen so far in the couse.
-There is discussion of In the Skin of a Lion between pages 133-140. There are some good points, but I'll leave out quotes, because this post is already long and we're focusing on FP, after all.
- The discussion of FP starts on p140, so I'll go on from there. There are echoes of the previous articles in this quote:
'In FP, Michaels explores Holocaust memory and history in relation to the counter-monument of the buried city. She uses this symbolic site to question how one might speak for those whose histories have been lost or destroyed and how one might represent the Holocaust without aestheticising and thus redeeming it. Michaels uses chronotopic metaphors drawn from fields such as archaeology, geology and physics in order to explore the relative, shaping perspective of a person who witnesses, remembers or researches the events of the past.' (p141)
- I must admit that I don't have much else left. I think that the rest of the article repeats itself.
----------------------------------
The final article, Universals, by Arun Mukherjee, is very interesting, especially in its discussion of universality in philosophy, history and human understanding. I think it's a really good essay to finish the course on, and it articulates arguments that we have had throughout (objectivity/subjectivity etc), but as it does not directly engage with FP, I'll leave it out of this post.
I hope this post has been helpful.
Mike
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