(Dis)present embodiment in Magdalena Tulli’s postmemory narrative Cover Image

Cielesność (nie)obecna w narracjach postpamięciowych Magdaleny Tulli
(Dis)present embodiment in Magdalena Tulli’s postmemory narrative

Author(s): Katarzyna Bielewicz-Jędros
Subject(s): Polish Literature, Theory of Literature, Politics of History/Memory, Identity of Collectives, Sociology of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warmińsko-Mazurskiego w Olsztynie
Keywords: Magdalena Tulli; embodiment; postmemory narrative; trauma;

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to draw attention to the ways in which borderline experience, described in Magdalena Tulli’s postmemory narratives (Włoskie szpilki, Szum), affects embodiment experience. The methods of presenting the unmet need for the closeness of the child with the maternal–traumatised–body and the consequences of the lack of this bond were analysed. The taboo of corporeality and its marginalisation in the narratives indicate the development of defence mechanisms against the traumatic past and, at the same time, become a source of identity problems for the representative of the second generation. Moreover, the close attention paid to Alzheimer’s disease by one of the main characters in Tulli’s novels indicates a close relationship between the way of creating a postmemory narrative and the experience of corporeality.

  • Issue Year: 2023
  • Issue No: 11
  • Page Range: 187-197
  • Page Count: 11
  • Language: Polish