Scribd Logo
Hochladen

Willkommen bei Scribd!

  • Obstinate Memory

    Hochgeladen von

    realista visceral
    11 Ansichten13 Seiten
    By Jean Franco

    Originaltitel

    "Obstinate Memory"

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Verfügbare Formate

    PDF oder online auf Scribd lesen

    Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

    Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

    Dieses Dokument melden
    By Jean Franco

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Als PDF herunterladen oder online auf Scribd lesen
    Markieren Sie unangemessene Inhalte
    11 Ansichten13 Seiten

    Obstinate Memory

    Hochgeladen von

    realista visceral
    By Jean Franco

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Als PDF herunterladen oder online auf Scribd lesen
    Markieren Sie unangemessene Inhalte
    von 13
    CHAPTER TEN Obstinate Memory: Tainted History om ance hiony 0 pop cle, Thi Week etary ters together he rimph tages uti oon wsk a ed sews the pt There sno transcendental court of appeal for the contemponiry tage ‘ed. The period iniiared hy Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor is one in ‘which cruelty has no unearthiy punishment and often ao earthy ea- Son. In Destoevsky's account there sil an individual with whom 19 ‘empathize, a boy torn to death by dogs. In our time, ony oo often ate Wwe given the image ofthe mass of boies—the massacres of Rovanda (oF Kovovo-out of wich i i dificul fr those of ws watching the television screen or looking at news phocogeaphs to construct mea= ing maratve, Yer another masscrs, another mass grave, Yee am ‘other holocaust of anonymous dead and disappeared and yet again the stumbling attempts of survivors oF torture victims to describe theic experience In Argentina and Chile, and ia Guatemala and BL Salvador this gruesome tuth has yet anther dimension, for bodies resi being disinerre. “Tea, the interment ofthe past and its hauntings are an eld sory ting back othe conquest in popula culture thar holocaust still act ‘counts for evil winds chat issue from the unhllowed indigenous bo ies’ Contemporary atrocities, on the other hand, bear direcly om present day politics, and memory and commemorations ate conten: tious. In his bool, Tight Memories on post Holocaust Germany, Andreas Huyssen argued thar “[lhe stage for memory is alin a struggle for history and against high-tech amnesis.”» But history has ‘ome under suspicion insofa a it sutures events into an ofl nae- ‘ative that relics on what x deemed ro constitute a fac. History on Trial Borges story “Guayaquil,” the narrator atempts to uncover the truth of a key historical moment in Latin America—the moment shen the liberator, San Martin, fer reasons that are obscure, owed ‘out of che independence struggle leaving Bolivat as its sole leader. In the sty the nrrator an his rival, Zimmerman, have disoveted in Solaco (the imaginary country of Conead’s Nostronio}, a missing le ter from Bolivar cae will offer the cue to the mystery of San Mains ‘enunciation. In a gesture that duplicates that of San Mati, the nae fatorcedes his right to visi Selaco and remains in his ancestral ome ‘where he hurns the notes has made on the incident. Historical fact in this account isa text whose gaps and omissions are fostered by ca price. The paradox ofthe story is that che nazeatr claims to have burned his only account of his meeting with Zimmerman and his re- ‘nunciation of the coveted letter, yet we, the readers, are reading his account ofthe mati: His gestare of renanciation i farceal reenact nent, sop to his own vanity, leaving the truth as elusive as ever. Not ‘only ithe factual fragile prey tothe vagaries of personal pasion that sletates what wil survive as historical record, bit the fextimony is | doubly afiion? Borge’ story seems to foreshadow the radical contingency that x jects marative and teleological history: In Ladin America such narra tives Were always difiul to scommodate to the untidy pater and the patchiness of modernization, asthe wetesof the “hom” gener tion were quick wo ceaize. Several of them turned to writing historical rovels a they artempted 10 charter not only the waywardness of the continent, is nonconformity t0 the recipes of historcsm, but ‘iso those subjective facccs that the historical narasve overlooked. Mario Vargas Llos’s The War of the End of the World, Alejo ‘Carpenters Explosion inthe Cathedral, Carios Fuemes's The Cae ‘aig, and Gabviol Gaccia Maequea’ The General a bis Labyrinth put the subject hack into history although without recovering subal- ten voices’ Vargas Llou’s The War of the End of the World, for instance, is based on a historical rebellion of aegis sect in north- | eastern Beal in che late nintcenth century. Led hy Antonio Co 230 + A Cala Reta Obsumte Memory = 284 selhcio, the cebels sacessally fought a campaign against the Repub: lican army before he and his followers were exterminate. In Vargas falas poop of nignous peoples nd Abo-Anericas who are Pe ri ha hve cd tani al action a pl elon wo memory and he pt _ nbich bo commemora ad eaves Thar why meno _ Boneh beanies ofthe mac ange ee ing forth of alsa sls in ease al Socom Se ‘Stommicionandpecbmanes eee ster tome ‘on econ oa tr vr ap pecedenee ed eae estat he unvenal pees of heey esate teers etl snd hn foussh in Colgate od Veal _ fond shcaomameratiy of theron Se teen ae | ore Sevan tthe cade acd eanns dined oe _ fein: co La Gta bya boat etek mene tha ln nt esol Bolen tse eps ks Venracan stems purer tein ane ek _ hc thy ave an etal Tae mean ogo _tom ton nan le y tao se ee Ath peso ne, noon oes tere my steeply ca TSMC Te trace of the Word Waker Ong makes hese | ten word ehe repository of knowledges that pint culture Bowed “Sa. "Tuping she meme oars ho ea hese areal lect sctnns bina ore el jase nee Jartind Ger omencosowndopeandlortaie hese Arcam dln tsp finns tee ee _dlvomcn snd Ato Amesans, Neaoe sees eee [Govt comiien ences te cone ty os tsen ecenie scommanaeai eae ee ua the posi of acon apnea ea lee Sri So ow tor jot menay bute cease Ahan est tte donant arate alengh oe oe ths Guages io presed none ae ee [oon wor apotuivenctatan cheesy ean eee [rpm intamns ce {hes hen ht pmo ingen anaes ee sagged in nvrel cen cane ee Shc coinc sane spun bebe semless devastation, The historical naracive in this case sugges a Critism ofthe guerilla warfare ofthe 1960s and 1970s ; In the novels ofthis generation, history stil has 2 lesson to teach while in more recent historia! novels—César Aa’ Erna Ta canting {Emma the Captive) aad Carmen Boullost's Los eilos dela tera {The Heavens of Earth) and Duerme (Sleep history is emancipated from documentary sousces, even when these underpin the narrative and gives way mp, ’ Official history 16 a narrative of heroes who ate noe easly de trond Ia Mexico, when a group of inellectuals revised school txt books by ciinating the more dubious incidens, the opposition was such thatthe new rexthooks Were soon dropped from the syllabus. ‘Chile the artist Juan Davila portrayal of Bolivar asa transvesite bes ‘ame an inernationsl scandal’ Sechincidenesiusrate how closely Irstory is til implicated in national identity, Ta ai effort to counter offical history, Eduardo Galeano, in the preface 10 his thee-volume anthology Memories of Fire, stated ee [hatially that hei not a historian. “From the outset (Lain Ame Fea} has been condemned ro amnesia by those who have prevented i fom being. Tam nota hisocian, Tam a writer who would ket contribute tothe rescue of the kidnapped memory ofall America, but Shove al of Latin America, chat despised and beloved land. I would Tike to tlk toy share her secrets sk her of what diful lays ‘vas bor, fom whar acts of love and violation she comes."* Her America,” anhropomorphized as fale, is held to communica through parila texts whose soarces ae listed atthe end of exc volume, But Galeano’s claim to “rescue the kidnapped memory of America” nanos out eo be the rescue not of memory but of mostly anecdotes of rebellion and resistance to oppression from Columbian times to the near present, and drawn fom 2 variety tnerits, Gernuin Atciniegas and Ernesto Cardenal, 0 ofthe a ited by Galeano, ate not necessarily to he relied on forthe rigors ‘documentation that he claims, "Mentor." in this ease, snot oa i tigon or personal recollection bur 2 literary renltion of an already ‘written past. What has been ignored isthe work of formerly mate 238 + A Cul Revo —onchuding that “this is nos the vocabulary of secular ertcl pace tice." Bat it peeciscy the inability of "secular eritical practice” to account for extremes of horror, forthe ampesia brought on by teams, and for what canoe be uttered in the language of pragina= tism thar accounts foe this apparene hackslding, Hector Schmucler Sho pointed out chat che word "memory often acqiges an exert: play and even 4 magical function “that stems from an opaque deter: rin” That is why thete has to be esclseflction on the histori Cal trauma that prompts social memary-* This sone ofthe tasks that Tceraeuze has ertaken “The Politics of Memory tn he ous ft Sate Gove he ro nly ow tiscali totes ta oreo ele “tcl ily imped law ta ret sting ca se ps In Area th fovea Alon ih Se AEBS! ater the may os nly idee Stet ines one hy the tes. Thy meds ‘ecpeat commis CONADS® {chin Nod Soe Bespin de Reson oe Maton Canon o he Di a ths) wine 84 pason oi Ric is Nor Noes on 900 poses fede Aime eos aslo eset or se nose ng Mae ie een br caprened fr ore soupy ne opt Shem ante melts ol eh PORE doen eo nc ng the ao Perf ie ary nent pels we sped re cc came cal The mr Mi ofr al “open agg ops onthe eden te co Fae athaprnel te wangroson obey tundatnoe he cial and sentencing of members of the military junta were sate she vents bye ore ck pte 9 Monsen cl soo nar» sty al spt fled bye ay de Obed ei a het carve ames mont mers he rad Fore wichinrsllowed 98 a 190 by eset we orth ah ming neo he i. Obsinte Memeny = 239 In Chil, there was a similar freezing of the process, The Aywin overnment—the Concertucién de Partidos por la Demiocracia, ot __ Accord of Parties for Democracy—hegan is regime in 1990 by pe lishing att of detained and disappeared persons, pusting up « mon tment to the victims of the miltary government in the, Genera ‘Cemetery and creating a Comisin de Verdady Reconeliacion (Com- ‘mission of Truth and Reconciliation) without judicial powers, whose sm was 10 “contribute to the global clarification of the ruth about the mos serious violations of rights commited in recent years” Its feport analyzed the causes of human rights violations and the be- | havior ofthe armed fores andthe juciary an proposed «series of Imexsure wo prevent any repetition. "In atelevised adress, President | Aylvin asked for pardon tor the vitins and requested that those te- ‘pombe for violations recognize the pan they ad caused." Amnesty ‘was then given for human rights crimes committed between 1973 and 1978, effecivly halting any proceedings until the arrest of Pinochet in London in 1998, an arrest tha had worldwide repereusions.™ In all countries of the Southern Cone, courts canine to dealin some way or another with death and disappearance, nearly shirt easafer dhe events shat eansed them. In Guatemala and El Salvador rate processes prompt pablc evelations of what had always been | locally known and remembered." “The power ofthe media, on the other hand, has supported the of- | fal versions of events. In Chile, the story goes, a nation dangeconsly | divided wene through periods of chaos and inernal series order was "fstored by the military and disallowed the eventual transition to de mostacy and a policy of conciliation. Torture, exile and death, the © wreckage ofthe Left the overturning ofa democeaticaly elected gov ernment, and the dirty wars that destroyed innocent a well a gly lives are folded into am upbeat narrative Bat for relatives of the dead and disappeared and many others, there ia less palatable story that eannot be suppressed. In Argentina, fon the twentieth anniversiry of the military coup that eook place on | March 25, 1996, thousands of people demonstrated in dlferent pats ff Buenos Aires, ncloding atthe sites of former death camps. Among | the organizations that participated in this commemoration were the ‘Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (now split ico eve factions, the Abuelitas (Grandmothers) of the Plaza de Mayo, human rihts rg _ uation, and the Children ofthe Disappeared-ehat i to say, chose 240+ A Cut Revol seo ea nd messages rd notices —devgned for such rapid scanning that they Soo ple segment ous example isthe Punta Carretas shopping mall in Montevideo that was buile on the site ofa notorious prison where, caring the ce- cent military eegime, disidents ad revolutionaries were kept in l= ‘ary confinement and where some were shor, The tick walls that sut- rounded che prison have heen left standing on one side of che mal, and the old prison entranee now serves a the entrance tothe mall—a three-story Kaleidoscope of stores and eateries each ae Burger King. Here postmoctern citation (the remains of the prison wall) lends 3 playful aspect tothe shopping center, marking the difference between the grim “hefore” and the joyful shopping spe ofthe “after” That the prison was the ste ofa spectacular escape by Tupamaro guerillas, who tunncled under che wall into a house opposite the prison, isa. lowed co be forgotten: unless you alteady Rnove about, there is hothing co indicate that t ever happened, One i struck above all by the sheer impadenee ofthe architects who tedoced the violence of the __ past to action, emptying the stones of any association with dread and repression, In some ways it snds asa parody of recent history, tnd the clearing of space by the mtary so tha he developmsat of obal market economy would not be hindered Given this will co fosget is civieonganiraions—the Mothers of the Disappeared, the Grandmothers ofthe Disappeared, the Children Of the Disappeazed in Argentina, and the Families of the Disappeated in Chil—that have undertaken the work of detection, forensic re ‘sarc idenccation of remains, he tracing of children, andthe ac mulation of evidence in order t bring the perpetrators to justice. In Argentina, the Childeen ofthe Disappeared marked the hovses of toF- turers. Human righ organizations identified loopholes inthe a= Pesty law that permitted tears to he ried forthe accion of cil den and che murder of foreigners, In suc cecumstancesn hic he ‘hing of data and expertise in law are of primary importance, in ‘which the hiscorica trauma shows up the poverty of language, litera- "tue ad at are in delicate position; for is all to easy to exploit __sesationalism or oil wich words what is nor alrogecerusterable, Is Torturea Literary Matter? = Ass well knovn from Elaine Searry' study, The Body i Pain, pain ades memory and verbal arculation.® The laconic statements of "cts published by human rights organizations underscore the inex 242 = A Caltural Kevotason ‘The ikesited hem ‘Theink coaverced heir age into erosc emai fats Here the somatie oe ha “They apy the elas prod ote genitals “They bur ad best she pron by and ap Pod othe eal Aground in he seat ocd the hy fn eo stip ide a wall and oughly with tree ae entrance, ary Le Sco ppl the trie “They apply the eletrc prod co the genitals” foregrounds the dis tance of words from che experienee; the power of words to czculate, "0 convey information aeross distance is ineffective here andthe af feces language of journalism ensures that torture will soon become ‘ld news a8 far asthe metropolis is concerned: a forthe "south" it is now “aground,” adehumanized experimental by that cannos ate lates suffering ‘One of the mose powerful fetional representations of the effects | of torture is Luisa Valenzuela’s “Cambio de armas” ("Weapon Ex ‘hange”),the story ofa woman who has no memory ofthe immediate past? Confined to an apartment svhere she wait the visits ofa lover, she lowly reconstucts her recent history trough a proces of inde tion by observing the behavior of hee apparent lover or husband wile fearing the surfacing ofa true memory. The lover isa member ofthe secret police who has wrzured and broken her, and when they have sec they are watched by two mea inthe corridor. The “lover” wants to bring back memory because, without her remembrance of tortute, hiseiumph over her is incomplete. What males her rset abjetion is “somatic memory and the association ofthe keyhole of the aparteat the wimess to her imprisonment) withthe sights ofan assault rifle. This “void” or hole ia recuerene rape ofthe sory itis the void oF ‘the past thatthe staging of “normal ile” sintended to cover over, it ‘nthe lac in here tha the sexual act is supposed 0 fil it ivalso the | blockel passage tothe urscle world to which she does not ave the lke and the blocked consciousness that can only be liberated when = she finally remembers how to destroy the Mockage—thatis bec lover, __Valenauela’s story shows how fine a Tine there is between the lie _ ny tepresemtation of rape and rorare and porangraphy and between sadomasochism and torture, both of which offer voyeuristic pleasure _ The marke is indscriminate—what for some isa moral outrage may © wellbe ila ro others. If thece smo sensitivity to che problems of | expression, « nareative ofa memoir may well end up responding to _the demand ofthe market for senstionalsm loser dsparon ola ia de Landes ‘enSahen cas fs anlar et es ear epee ium lovexcns ° Inn omit sabi enbe soto eis soso sea plc a pics clerical gents : ‘Reman gripe cence tendioy wacoen apical peat ‘Sta ens sents vardocen lsu {Te genitals ave dappearodin London fo {Wrapped nthe yellow pape of he anes rary supplement 244 + A Calta Retin Obsamate aemany = 28 Bac Valen examin his ky bocetine tween sama ochsm and otre, other les kill writers donot. a hiking paral ofthe novel by Laveence Tron, ging Agen Ind Omar Ribadlss Regio foro Woman’ Sol, ho of whch tte ote and pearance od plquancy and eatin toh tex" Thorntons tre, raed by JM. Cots the boo jek at chev, ive snd power" ha au proagoist 4 theae deor ho al to gine what happens othe dtp peared, Bot the despre of trtare connor escape the bara 4 "fen ive wes were spied toh eile he ek tia hor i hd been clamped to the tenders pt of body oe fk Bands on ber Resch faced ie et bras, and there wat ie pin ates nipples were case” Riba Re iho for «Womans Solis staghforeardy voyeurs Purported tS wed on papers found by pry dt te sexing ts committed ona woman pone What alee Book prob ft, however thatthe desripons of ore sr psy one tothe pone por: "The Binge cater my el ig tat Uline oe the ht hours wa he prerewho, afer heal fondling snd she, culated agin al ve ny rea ‘Ths ony press eve antsy oposite di thy cphasiing peer and “obxeiy the dexripon und Scores the inention ofthe text and ros the ie between noes Si and lst Teil fr berate o question thse mix moon when vovatlconouly ac the eta devices of crime fon The Se may be sid for rue sonfessons ike he nec El oa iar, hoy ater pnd of eat lei acy, wen on tothe DINA (he Chilean scent polis" Lor Are had bom ath Tee who joined th Soca Pry and rove rail inthe ranks 1 be ome a Dodyuard working inthe Monod daring the presidency ‘Mendes Aer the mtr coup, she wen nerround fea sort fie ws eaptued aed epee expe and ore wih the es trcprod whe watching her companions goo he death Ste ally broke when br Beate was brought in By the DINA and whet hid was threatened. The sergennt who was sept hel Bet bathe sone er ut commen wid many icin Lz A Gescpton a sinner sce lacie: bs ad bard {not desrbe urine. Assoon recovered conical Jost it again” Ax other times, she uses commonplace metaphor a aif thos mals a entered me. Song pis in he Somach nee ress ‘nee oe, rs Kp fora yea ina nb, afer which she begin toimegzte ein he nary ineligenee core than to Barats wth igh DINA ofa Lu aces rapa om os ‘Scere to become 3 hereof te DINA She dcp _ itigece epost pve sare aed was prset atm ote ioe sis Sh expan ar she male od hs feces ape i dsasocte hel fom her rounding Se profes sachs Ie flow snr conte ethno se oe High-level oer wih whom ab bad tars. He dat ely tered forthe lower ranks She serie heel hang es Same for fay atleson a8 chia ds on bosoms le 2b sce eta with my ie seth eb he negro cate ated nhs ed frat F _Whsesotksajsring none in this recounting poo much he a _ count of wrt ut the sate lexmewerk of conesion a ha fan ergenes that make of Laz Arce sue suv eather | shana ty prtcpae, conforming to Polo Vin’ deen the ontrpoar ai er sry is prefaced by a pri Ree fos conversion svg ane of her scl edempion, She pete seins er exinny tothe Trth Gamision tad the _ermation se hd given abn the appeared in drt sem he tefl ote redenocrataation pots. words ofthe ci Nay Retard mermar sich ae Are "are helene ta Higher autborty ofthe Charch lowing these women whohe ea lcs genrly though robe asin ese hy se Sid wih power, to vin the oman ey and oes spa hold he fn, mother a respnatty fom wach fo fom they then lead for pardon Damel itt ago a uc anaes pee the Sexi and adapale soja & pon mote by le capitation. What i bron, wot fapmented In fhe memoris. t wre, herp fhe ery thigh de face sass key boning olga coe pi tabackbone lig it exon othe vend, t ttn moage, tnd tothe ides! pice of el laambodmen” What drs | Hi however pr het women ke Luz Ace ave oho le ts are in poston toe the satin those wo were taped; rtrd a ipso bu exten of he ory 2 ay that eviavn tac By making a cen sac 240» A Cada Result their character, Treachery becomes synonymous wi adaptability. Such nomadic subjects devoid of ethics and dedicated to survival at any cont have become intligible inthe era of savage capitalism and neoliberal ishing honse, Lace Are’s book was published hy the Spanish publishing acts now ne of he rived istiuons of hue nd [As Nely Richard pointed out, *The memory of che dictatorship srl ys ht ctr it hat pay fis tha ae rapidly recycled inthe flax of the market and there is no time to do tone thane ping eer the past mst Frsenany rugh eds no communicative hashes 0 2 nt Ate the ight rythm of ariatins and iverson thar characteris the aesthetics of redemocratization” Where, Richard asks, “is that relexve and analytic density of memory i pessely the conflitive rings intentions, styles, pasions tnd erp emery whose " fa ae she this questions the staging of tnd calelations are not dekard.” ‘memory astrue memories and asks, [Isic enough to know about the eerste conan fy must be made into « peoductive complex (oudo) that gathers ‘the traces of historical signification and narratives in the rope presen.” Inher 1986 novel Por kx pari (Ror the Fatherland) Elie uses face tured language 1 speak of tora Me es, too, omen, Mecercs ne pesca cela Cai Gresan Romar cor By scrambling worde—songre a ces “ean (dead) becomes “romoee™the ove unecotes fhe He a bette Memory «247 forturefagments the very process of atculaion so that what might be communicated as estoy muerta (am dead) becomes a private lin. sage. Disappearance ‘The massive disappearances in Argentina has made the work of ‘mourning particularly agonizing. Oa the ane hand there ise conte: ‘ious butted in which the police of memory ae waged and, on the other, te slower and more painfl work of mourning that ofen “annotbe completed.” Addressing hoth the representation of death it Wester cukuze and the anonymity of modern death exemplified in the meta’ treatment of massacres and epiemics, Nelly Suat rote ‘ofthe need eo find forms other than those enthroned bythe aesthenis ‘or documentary traditions to deal with material “on which ta di foul to speak as to be silent, a mater that surely weighs on the une ‘conscious of social feeling and ought to weigh on the ative com ‘eiousness of a society that is none other than its members“ Afr seeing the Argentine lm The Offical Story which chronicled the fate ofthe children of the disappeared and became an international se ‘zs, she was repelled by its use of aelodcama and the fact tha the film concentrates on the individual and is unable to deal with the un named dead of the common graves. For Snaith, fs and Iterare that disidentify that i, thae iaternpt the process of kentfestone are moce effective in disusbing the spectator or readet One werk she cites is Griselda Gambacto’s play El campo (The Camp), which, though written before the military coup, staged the culture of fear __But she also could have mentioned Gambaraos play Atando eabus {Loose Ends) a dialogue between a man (possibly a former arty of fre) and a woman who are shipwrecked together on am island. The | oman cannot travel by air because of che haunting mernory of the body of her fiteen-yearold daughter being thrown fom a plane dts Ing the repression. The officer, Martin, tiesto ft withthe woman F but becomes inrtaed when she insists on calking of her daughter, __thout whose death he fees mo gui for hes nota survivor bu the vi tor He tells her, *f don’t need to imagine. I wiote the book. T wrote tery seory you ever heard. And the people who write the stories are the only ones that canbe free and proud. We don't need asa = ton.” The woman, however, asthe last woud, promising that "youl own on land because you won't he able to wipe wx my memory. 28 - A Cader Revolution You can never live in this world tha I'm passing through. You can never sivim inthe same water” ‘The Argentine poet Juan Gelman drew on the language of them tics to spel ofthe pain and gait he fle after the disappearance of his son. Gelman hed been sea to Rome during the worst ofthe terror in Angentna to acta the spokesperson f the montonaros: la 1976, his son Marcelo Avie, aged went, and his son's pregnant wife Claudia

    Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen