1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910790035003321

Autore

Boulter Jonathan <1967->

Titolo

Melancholy and the archive : trauma, memory, and history in the contemporary novel / Jonathan Boulter

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London ; New York, : Continuum, 2011

ISBN

1-4411-8535-6

1-4725-4263-0

1-283-11420-8

9786613114204

1-4411-5216-4

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (217 p.)

Collana

Continuum literary studies series

Disciplina

809.93353

Soggetti

Melancholy in literature

Memory in literature

Fiction - 20th century - History and criticism

Fiction - 21st century - History and criticism

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (pages [198]-203) and index

Nota di contenuto

Introduction -- Part I: The Material Archive -- 1. Archiving Trauma: Paul Auster -- 2. Burying History: Haruki Murakami -- Part II: The Imaginary Archive -- 3. Humanizing History: David Mitchell -- 4. Archiving Melancholy: Jose Saramago -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Melancholy and the Archive examines how trauma, history and memory are represented in key works of major contemporary writers (David Mitchell, Paul Auster, Haruki Murakami, Jose Saramago). The book explores how these authors construct crucial relationships between sites of memory the archive becomes a central trope here and the self that has been subjected to various traumas, various losses. The archive be it a bureaucratic office (Saramago), an underground bunker (Auster), a geographical space or landscape (Mitchell) or even a hole (Murakami) becomes the means by which the self attempts to pr