Varujan Vosganian’s Novel of Postmemory
Romanul de postmemorie al lui Varujan Vosganian

Summary/Abstract: This article looks into Varujan Vosganian’s The Book of Whispers as a novel of postmemory, a term coined by Marianne Hirsch. It argues that postmemory is the essential dimension of a book which looks back on the past and tells stories from a vantage point which is also our post-communist present. Such a novel could not have been written and published during the communist regime, not only because its publication would have been prevented but also because the times it recovers need the author’s distance from them and the perspective that distance gives. According to Vosganian, the main character in the book is the 20th century with all its atrocities. It is also a book about the Armenian people. Although the Armenian genocide of 1915 is central, it is far from being the only terrible abuse the novel evokes. The communist atrocities add to the several stages of the Armenian genocide, and its victims are Armenians, Romanians, Jews and other nations.

• Details
• Contents