Rewind, Forward, Skip: Tabs of Memory to play with the Narrative Tempo

Abstract

Abstract Memory narratives, like all fictional narratives, are characterized by variation in narrative pace, resulting from a variety of staging strategies. In memory literature, the change in narrative pace is particularly evident because the representation of memory encourages a variety of narrative pacing strategies – from acceleration to deceleration. A great deal of attention is given to the representation of memory content when reviewing narratology from a memory studies perspective. There is, however, one aspect that is often overlooked, namely the way in which memories themselves determine the pace of the narrative. Memory content not only affects the narrative pace in significant ways but in most cases, the representation of memory also dictates the narrative pace by employing several memory-elicited pace strategies. As part of this paper, we propose a narratological approach that emphasizes narrative pace as the basis for analyzing the memory literature related to transgenerational memory communication. This paper examines the narrative techniques in the the construction of memory-elicited narrative pace. Furthermore, this paper discusses how memory itself takes on different roles based on varying narrative paces and how memory itself can influence narrative pace. The paper uses three memory novels as case studies: Herzklappen von Johnson & Johnson by Valerie Fritsch, Briefe nach Breslau: Meine Geschichte über drei Generation by Maya Lasker-Wallfisch, and Zurück nach Berlin: wie mein Vater mit mir in seine Vergangenheit reiste by Jonathan Lichtenstein. Each of these novels focuses on the transmission of a transgenerational memory of World War II. Using examples from these novels, this paper explains how the suturing of memory content generates the five primary rhythms of narrative movement: ellipsis, summary, stretch, pause, and scene.