Necrofiction and The Politics of Literary Memory

Contemporary literature creates literary tombs to commemorate H/history and its story, honoring the past while casting off its burdens. Necrofiction and The Politics of Literary Memory explores the relationship between singular models of literary remembrance and hegemonic discourses, incorporating existing models and devices into poetic art.

Format: Hardback
Length: 216 pages
Publication date: 01 July 2022
Publisher: Liverpool University Press

Contemporary literature serves as a sacred space where the remnants of history and its unique narrative converge, creating literary tombs that commemorate the past. Necrofiction, a captivating genre, emerges as a powerful tool in this endeavor, enabling writers to pay tribute to the past while relinquishing its oppressive weight. Through its narratives of the aftermath, necrofiction fosters the creation of new affective, political, and aesthetic communities, challenging the existing hierarchies.

Defined and analyzed in relation to various literary forms such as trauma writing, historical novels, archival narratives, biofiction, and field literature, necrofiction occupies a unique position within the literary landscape. It fulfills the social and artistic roles of individual or collective acts of remembrance of lost family members or historical figures, offering a creative outlet for authors to transcend the constraints of literary tradition.

Necrofiction achieves this by incorporating existing models and devices into its poetic art, as exemplified by the works of five writers whose personal and artistic trajectories transcend political, cultural, and linguistic boundaries: Linda Lê, Patrick Modiano, Assia Djebar, Patrick Chamoiseau, and Maylis de Kerangal. By delving into the ways in which fiction both reflects and resists what Achille Mbembe has defined as "necropolitics," Necrofiction and The Politics of Literary Memory explores the intricate relationship between singular models of literary remembrance and the frameworks of hegemonic discourses.

In this commemorative site of contemporary literature, necrofiction emerges as a powerful tool for writers to honor the past, dismantle its burdens, and forge new connections within the fabric of society. Through its exploration of the complexities of literary remembrance and the politics of power, necrofiction offers a rich and nuanced perspective on the human experience, challenging us to reimagine our relationship with history and the legacies we carry with us.

Dimension: 239 x 163 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781802077179