THE BLESSING AND THE BURDEN OF MEMORY: ALI SMITHʼS AUTUMN AND GEORGI GOSPODINOV’S TIME SHELTER
Date
2023
Authors
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Publisher
Plovdiv University Press "Paisii Hilendarski"
Abstract
The paper discusses some thematic, narrative and stylistic parallels between Ali Smith’s Autumn (2016) and Georgi Gospodinov’s Time Shelter (2020) – two notable recent novels engaged in apprehending the personal and political crises of the present through the problematization of our involvement with memory and the past. The central analytical tools are those of “restorative vs. reflective nostalgia” (Svetlana Boym, 2001) and “cruel nostalgia” (Robert Eaglestone, 2018). These concepts contribute to a deeper understanding of the highly ambivalent attitudes to memory and the past shared by the two novels.
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Keywords
Ali Smith, Georgi Gospodinov, memory, nostalgia, nationalism