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‘Narrative Achieves an Amplitude’: Research-Creation, Postmemory, and the Aesthetics of Transmission

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Women’s Narratives and the Postmemory of Displacement in Central and Eastern Europe

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Life Writing ((PSLW))

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Abstract

Following Marianne Hirsch’s argument that the central project of postmemory is to ‘re-activate and re-embody’ the stories of Nazi survivors, this chapter explores the contribution of critically and historically informed creative work in broadening the study of Nazi persecution. With reference to Walter Benjamin’s ‘The Storyteller’ and the emerging practice of research-creation, Colby traces the aesthetic argument implied in the postmemorial paradigm and provides a practice-based example through a passage from Matryosha, her intergenerational account of Nazi displacement and forced labor.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Simon Fraser University Vancouver, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Sasha Colby

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  1. Sasha Colby
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Correspondence to Sasha Colby .

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  1. Department of Interdisciplinary Research, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi, Romania

    Simona Mitroiu

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Colby, S. (2018). ‘Narrative Achieves an Amplitude’: Research-Creation, Postmemory, and the Aesthetics of Transmission. In: Mitroiu, S. (eds) Women’s Narratives and the Postmemory of Displacement in Central and Eastern Europe. Palgrave Studies in Life Writing. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96833-9_3

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