The Politics of Dementia: Forgetting and Remembering the Violent Past in Literature, Film and Graphic Narratives

Open Access Published by De Gruyter 2022

The Politics of Dementia

Forgetting and Remembering the Violent Past in Literature, Film and Graphic Narratives

Edited by: Irmela Marei Krüger-Fürhoff , Nina Schmidt and Sue Vice

Volume 32 in the series Media and Cultural Memory

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110713626

Overview
Contents

About this book

Open Access

Memory loss is not always viewed purely as a contingent neurobiological process present in an ageing population; rather, it is frequently related to larger societal issues and political debates. This edited volume examines how different media and genres – novels, auto/biographical writings, documentary as well as fictional films and graphic memoirs – represent dementia for the sake of critical explorations of memory, trauma and contested truths. In ten analytical chapters and one piece of graphic art, the contributors examine the ways in which what might seem to be the individual, ahistorical diseases of dementia are used in contemporary cultural texts to represent and respond to violent historical and political events – ranging from the Holocaust to postcolonial conditions – all of which can prove difficult to remember. Combining approaches from literary studies with insights from memory studies, trauma studies, anthropology, the critical medical humanities and media, film and comics studies, this volume explores the politics of dementia and incites new debates on cultures of remembrance, while remaining attentive to the lived reality of dementia.

Author / Editor information

Irmela Marei Krüger-Fürhoff and Nina Schmidt, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany;
Sue Vice, The University of Sheffield, UK.

Topics

Frontmatter Open Access Download PDF	I
Contents Open Access Download PDF	V
Introduction: Refracting History, Trauma and the Generations through the Prism of Dementia Irmela Marei Krüger-Fürhoff, Nina Schmidt and Sue Vice Open Access Download PDF	1
Dementia and Meaning Making
In the Shadow of No Memories? The Role of Dementia in Contemporary Aftermath Writing Kirstin Gwyer Open Access Download PDF	17
Homo Sacer / Homo Demens. The Epistemology of Dementia in Contemporary Literature and Theory Pieter Vermeulen Open Access Download PDF	39
Dementia and the Politics of Memory in Fiction. From the Condition as Narrative Experiment to the Patient as Plot Device Martina Zimmermann Open Access Download PDF	55
Dementia’s Paradoxical Relation to Buried Truths
Over/writing the Father? Dementia and the National Socialist Past in Tilman Jens’s Demenz Nina Schmidt Open Access Download PDF	73
“That I Could Live as Not Myself”: Holocaust Survival, Trans Identity and Dementia in Susan Faludi’s In the Darkroom Kristina Lucenko Open Access Download PDF	93
Dementia as Catalyst and Plot Device
Journeying into Uncertainty: Representations of Memory Loss in Kindertransport Fiction and Drama Sue Vice Open Access Download PDF	117
Screen Memories in Literary and Graphic Dementia Narratives. Irene Dische’s “The Doctor Needs a Home” and Stuart Campbell’s These Memories Won’t Last Irmela Marei Krüger-Fürhoff Open Access Download PDF	135
Dementia and Genocide: An Artist’s Approach
Transmuting Transgenerational Trauma: Dementia, Storytelling and Healing Dana Walrath Open Access Download PDF	153
Dementia as Ethical Challenge
Strange Bodies. Dementia and Legacies of Colonialism in Fiona McFarlane’s The Night Guest Emily Thew Open Access Download PDF	175
The Temporality and Politics of Language Lost and Found. Cinema, Dementia and the Entangled Histories of Singapore Maohui Deng Open Access Download PDF	189
Forgetting and Remembering in Post-dictatorial Argentina. Tiempo suspendido and the Ethics of Documentary Filmmaking Featuring People Living with Dementia Raquel Medina Open Access Download PDF	203
Contributors Open Access Download PDF	219
Index Open Access Download PDF	221

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Researchers in the areas of literary, memory, dementia, Holocaust, post-colonial, cultural and comparative studies
Pages
- Front matter: 6
- Main content: 228
Illustrations
- Coloured Illustrations: 30
Keywords: Political dimension of dementia; dementia and the holocaust; cultural dimensions of forgetting; disavowal and repression; dementia and history

eBook

Published: November 22, 2021
ISBN: 9783110713626

Hardcover

Published: December 6, 2021
ISBN: 9783110713572