Anatomía de la memoria: literatura y políticas del recuerdo

Abstract

This article set out to present the mutual relationship between two discourses that conceptualize the notion of memory: the theoretical-literary discourse and the politico-historical one. Literature, which is a constitutive element of the cultural memory system, plays two major roles in the society: it reflects the dominant tendencies in the collective memory, and secondly, it participates in the formation of individual, as well as collective, images of the past and the discourse that surrounds them. The study draws on, inter alia, the literary representations of memory in the works of Jorge Semprun (testimony) and Javier Cercas (postmemory). Both writers were keen on participating in the public debate on the policy of remembrance in Spain. This article focuses on the metaliterary and self-reflexive components of their writings and aims to position them in the wider theoretical context.