Intersections and Possible Convergences between Cultural Memory, Postmemory and Trauma Studies in the Italian Postmemory Literature

Abstract

The article outlines the theoretical framework around the concept of cultural memory in general and postmemory in particular, highlighting how the last critical essays on Memory Studies, especially in the US, consider cultural memory as a difficult concept to analyse, also connected to Trauma Studies, and bearing in mind the importance of what Lucy Bond, Stef Craps and Pieter Vermeulen called «vectors of mobility», i.e. the concepts of transcultural and transgenerational ideas, transmedia storytelling and transdisciplinary approaches. After highlighting the deep connection between memory, history and national identity, the article explores the problems related to the idea of intergenerational transfer of memory and analyses in particular the case of the book Signora Auschwitz (1999) by Edith Bruck, comparing it with two books by Elena Loewenthal: Conta le stelle se puoi (2008) and Contro il giorno della memoria (2014). Finally, the article touches some issues related to the literary genre, pausing in particular on the novels La ragazza con la Leica by Helena Janeczek (2017) and Le variazioni Reinach by Filippo Tuena (2005, new ed. 2015).