Historical memory emerges through dialogue between one generation and the next. But what happens to this dialogue if the children speak a different language to their parents? Literary autobiography offers a space to explore the potential forms of memory in the aftermath of inter-generational linguistic change triggered by violent histories, such as the Holocaust, the Second World War, or imperialism. Through an exploration of the autobiographies of the Russian-American writer, Vladimir Nabokov, the French novelist and poet, Georges Perec, and the Caribbean author, Patrick Chamoiseau,...
Historical memory emerges through dialogue between one generation and the next. But what happens to this dialogue if the children speak a different...