Georges Perec

Georges Perec's W, or the Memory of Childhood is a very interesting way of illustrating trauma. It had an unexpected and unnerving storyline. It was a semi-autobiographical work of post-modernist literature. One half of the story is fictional and follows a utopian olympic whilst the other is constructed of real childhood memories. The main character adapts the identity of Winkler to evade military service. The second part follows a mythical Olympics hosted on an island where the winners are idolized and the losers are tortured. At first it was hard to understand how the stories were connected. 

I found that this novel had me trying to piece together the story until the third story instalment. The land of W was an escape from the harsh realities of the world during the Holocaust. The island of W was a mirrored reality of what the author was enduring. It was a different type of retelling of the Holocaust. The fact that the island was called W is symbolic of double lives and how the narrator lived in both places at once (reality and imagination).  The island had strict rules and the fate of the people who lived there was uncertain. Those who won were rewarded and allowed to maintain their strength through the prizes, where the losers were malnourished and continually got weaker. This almost ensured that those who lost would continue to lose and be unable to change their fate. More important than skill, was luck. 

One part that really stood out to me was that the athletes on W were not known by names unless they were very famous, even then it was rare. All novices were known as novice or given nicknames by some of their physical characteristics. When I compare that to now, I feel as though that is a common practice to only know the names of some elites. Many people can name countless celebrities as they are idolized and therefore, well-known. In the story, I think the use of nicknames was meant to disassociate the human from the athlete. Therefore, when they were tortured, it seemed more humane considering that people were not known by their names. 

I found the use of Italics to be very interesting. Whenever something in the world of W was described, it was done so in Italics. It was a nice way to differentiate the stories without completely ruining the flow of the story. 

My question to the class is: What specific aspects of this story do you think can apply to our society?



Comments

  1. Sam Wallace7 March 2022 at 22:20

    Hi,

    I think several aspects of the story are applicable to our society. For instance, the tendency for the artist to exaggerate to appeal to readers, the increasingly blurred lines between fact and fiction, as well as the insecurity artists face with telling their experiences.

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  2. Maia G.8 March 2022 at 17:39

    Hello! I like how you mention that the narrator has lived, in a way, in both his own world and the fictional world of W.

    To answer your question, I would say that the ideas about authoritarianism and how a utopia can be revealed as a dystopia are still very relevant.

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  3. harshi jhaveri9 March 2022 at 12:52

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. harshi jhaveri9 March 2022 at 13:07

    Hi Madi! Thank you for your post:) You mention many really interesting point. I especially liked what you had to say about nicknames and how you linked it to our society today. Also, when you said this novel had you "trying to piece together the story" I couldn't help but think about Perec and his love for games. It makes me think that this feeling is exactly what he would have wanted his readers to experience while reading his work.

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  5. Ashvi9 March 2022 at 13:53

    Hey! Great blog! your mention of how names were disregarded to dehumanize people was a very good point. I think in today's society we often create titles for people in order to justify abuse of power or similar to the story reduce power from people. By calling someone superior by their title rather than their name we give their words less or more authority.

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