Monster as a Figure of Memory

Mateusz Chaberski

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Monster as a Figure of Memory

In: Monstrous Reflection

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Mateusz Chaberski

Mateusz Chaberski
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 119–127

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848884076_013

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The aim of this chapter is to demonstrate the utility of the monster figure for challenging the binary opposition between cultural and communicative memories as defined by Jan Assmann. The scholar distinguishes between cultural performances aiming at conveying the dominant narrative of the past and individual narratives providing a potentially subversive version of the official history. Thus, the monster as a creature that ‘combines elements of two or more animal forms’ (OED) becomes an apt metaphor for memory as a phenomenon combining both elements of Assmann’s theory. For, communicative memories are to a great extent determined by the cultural frames of memory, to allude to the title of Maurice Halbwachs’ seminal work. Subsequently, the elements of cultural memory are employed by individuals to form their personal histories. In this context, destabilising the distinction between the two modes of memory reveals a mechanism of power relations lying behind the process of creating memories itself. This aspect of the monster figure is exemplified by the Polish contemporary drama A Piece on Mother and the Fatherland (2008) by Bożena Umińska-Keff. The text is a story of a complex relationship between Usia and her Jewish mother who blames the daughter for her own suffering during the Second World War. The monstrous manifests itself in two aspects of the piece. On the one hand, the mother is depicted by Usia, as an oppressive monster incessantly controlling her life. On the other hand, Keff’s work itself may be perceived as a ‘monsterpiece’ due to recycling strategies employed by the author intermingling different genres (e.g. ancient tragedy and oratorio) and cultural images (e.g. Ridley Scott’s Ripley and Nat Turner). Through the monstrous language, Usia attempts to create her own story against both the traumatised past of her mother and the dominant Polish patriarchal narratives about the war.

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Monstrous Reflection

E-Book ISBN:: 9781848884076

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 01 Jan 2014

Subjects
- Literature and Cultural Studies
  - Comparative Studies & World Literature
- Social Sciences
  - Cultural Studies

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Monster as a Figure of Memory

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Monstrous Reflection

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