Book Review: "In Memory of Memory" by Maria Stepanova

"The woven fabric of language decomposes instantly, never to be felt again between the fingers: "I would never say 'lovely', it sounds so common" Gayla admonished me once. And there were other prohibited words I can't recall, her talk of one's people, gossip about old friends, neighbours, little reports from a lonely and self-consuming life."

- In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova

I've decided that perhaps I am going to have a quick look through the publications by the Fitzcarraldo Editions in order to get my next read and that's not just because I like the Werner Herzog movie. In Memory of Memory was going cheap and so, I took my chances. I have to say guys, I really enjoyed this one and I didn't expect to. The language is so honest and beautiful and the way in which emotion and memory are depicted through reading and writing is just sublime. If you're a fan of sentimental writing then this is definitely something you need to look into.

The protagonist's Aunt Gayla has died and she describes her memories of her aunt in snapshots of reading including books like To Kill a Mockingbird - and on top of that, the writing that was both there and wasn't there. Initially not finding any writing, she eventually remembers and discovers her aunt's journals and diaries. A woman who apparently did not have much in the way of emotional sentiment apart from to things in her home (of which she was a hoarder), had settled in her final years on clearing things away.

The writer describes the thorough process by which this was done and allows us for once to look inside the mind of a woman who did not want to die in a hospital because of what she knew about her parents' experience with the medical care system. It is written in such a sentimental style that it really did become one of those books where you stop and stare into the distance after a few pages. A phenomenal beginning that draws you into a complicated woman's life after she has died at eighty years' old.

The writing of this book is simply fantastic.

As we move on, the author describes how they put writing this book aside once or twice and came back to it years' later. She then goes through the idea that there is something in remembering things that happened long ago not only to relive them for yourself, but it is ideal for the things themselves. Seeing it through the eyes of an amusement for children mentioned within the memoirs of mid-20th century Russia, she encounters memory vividly through language that is so beautiful, it stopped me breathing. Take a look at this quotation:

"Paradise for the disappearing objects and everyday diversions of the past might simply exist in being remembered and mentioned."

- In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova

Reliving memories is of stark importance to the writer as she describes love affairs in her teen years, forgetting forty words she wished she wouldn't forget and looking through photo albums with her mother. It is a wonderful narrative of a life story in an entirely different way: seen through the way in which the book itself was composed. The book, she explains is not really about her family but is about how she has come to understand the role of memory in her life what it has been used to contain. In some ways, we can see this book as being a product of her memory and what she found it worthy to recall - even if it is as insignificant as nobody being famous in her family history.

As we come on to the family history, there are photographs showing particular things such as an anatomy class or a little girl with a doll and through each of these, we see a picture in time. It reminds me of the experimental book Here by Richard McGuire and how he showed us that there were several things that happened before us and there will be so many things that happen afterwards. Things happened to people in the photographs when it came to time. Perhaps it was Stalinism or the Holocaust, perhaps it was even the long awaited collapse of the Soviet Union. But because each photography conjures up a memory and each memory tells a story, there are thousands of things the author unlocks by looking from photograph to photograph.

However, the author also acknowledges their incomplete natures. Photographs, letters, and heirlooms offer tantalising clues but no complete truths. They are half-remembered lives, almost like a dreamscape. In this sense, remembering becomes an act of creation and projection, not simple retrieval. She considers how absence such as: what’s lost, untold, or destroyed, forms as much a part of identity as what is preserved. That is so deep that if you read this book, you will definitely have to stop and take a breath every time you confront that idea.

She engages with different artists and writers throughout the book such as when she makes us, the readers, remember the Rembrandt painting. She references figures such as Marcel Proust, Susan Sontag, Osip Mandelstam, and W.G. Sebald, weaving their ideas into her own reflections. She often comments on how memory is so important in what they write and honestly, I loved her commentary on Susan Sontag. If you haven't realised already, you have to read this book.

All in all, the author gives us a huge exploration into how important memory truly is through a family story, a look back at life, a genuine sorrow and contemplation on what has been lost and a writing process which starts with the death of her aunt. It is a fantastic novel.

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Now that you’ve read a book review, why don’t you enter an unofficial poetry challenge?

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Also, there will be no “Why It’s Shifty” this week since for some reason, my draft of it has been lost in the ether. Anyways, next week we will return as planned.