Mémoire et manipulation dans The House in Paris d’Elizabeth Bowen
In an article dealing with the problem of nostalgia in post-World War II Britain, Elizabeth Bowen made a comment that seems particularly apt for her writing as a whole: « […] the past is veiled from us by illusion – our own illusion. It is that which we seek. It is not the past, but the idea of the...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée
2008-11-01
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| Series: | Études Britanniques Contemporaines |
| Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/ebc/7201 |
| _version_ | 1818189436138029056 |
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| author | Shannon Wells-Lassagne |
| author_facet | Shannon Wells-Lassagne |
| author_sort | Shannon Wells-Lassagne |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In an article dealing with the problem of nostalgia in post-World War II Britain, Elizabeth Bowen made a comment that seems particularly apt for her writing as a whole: « […] the past is veiled from us by illusion – our own illusion. It is that which we seek. It is not the past, but the idea of the past which draws us » (« The Bend Back », Bowen 1986, 58). The relation between memory and illusion, and the underlying desire not for an impossible reality, but for what is inevitably representation, are clearly reflected in the author’s novel The House in Paris. Indeed, the attraction of memory, present in the very structure of the text (the book is divided into three sections, the Present, the Past, and the Present, the last of which takes up where the first left off), contrasts with the story itself, where the characters show a marked suspicion of memory and its subversive influence. Through this contradiction among others, Bowen posits the essentially ambiguous nature of memory: the recall of the past is necessary both within the diegesis and as a narrative strategy, but it is a siren call, invariably heeded and necessarily dangerous, which shapes the perception of the present, while insidiously changing the vision of the past. In The House in Paris, as in many of Bowen’s novels, memory and manipulation are inextricable, both for the characters, and for the reader. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T23:42:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-650545910bda4f90b9b60e9361697b3a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1168-4917 2271-5444 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T23:42:47Z |
| publishDate | 2008-11-01 |
| publisher | Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Études Britanniques Contemporaines |
| spelling | doaj.art-650545910bda4f90b9b60e9361697b3a2022-12-22T00:45:41ZengPresses Universitaires de la MéditerranéeÉtudes Britanniques Contemporaines1168-49172271-54442008-11-013410.4000/ebc.7201Mémoire et manipulation dans The House in Paris d’Elizabeth BowenShannon Wells-LassagneIn an article dealing with the problem of nostalgia in post-World War II Britain, Elizabeth Bowen made a comment that seems particularly apt for her writing as a whole: « […] the past is veiled from us by illusion – our own illusion. It is that which we seek. It is not the past, but the idea of the past which draws us » (« The Bend Back », Bowen 1986, 58). The relation between memory and illusion, and the underlying desire not for an impossible reality, but for what is inevitably representation, are clearly reflected in the author’s novel The House in Paris. Indeed, the attraction of memory, present in the very structure of the text (the book is divided into three sections, the Present, the Past, and the Present, the last of which takes up where the first left off), contrasts with the story itself, where the characters show a marked suspicion of memory and its subversive influence. Through this contradiction among others, Bowen posits the essentially ambiguous nature of memory: the recall of the past is necessary both within the diegesis and as a narrative strategy, but it is a siren call, invariably heeded and necessarily dangerous, which shapes the perception of the present, while insidiously changing the vision of the past. In The House in Paris, as in many of Bowen’s novels, memory and manipulation are inextricable, both for the characters, and for the reader.http://journals.openedition.org/ebc/7201 |
| spellingShingle | Shannon Wells-Lassagne Mémoire et manipulation dans The House in Paris d’Elizabeth Bowen Études Britanniques Contemporaines |
| title | Mémoire et manipulation dans The House in Paris d’Elizabeth Bowen |
| title_full | Mémoire et manipulation dans The House in Paris d’Elizabeth Bowen |
| title_fullStr | Mémoire et manipulation dans The House in Paris d’Elizabeth Bowen |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mémoire et manipulation dans The House in Paris d’Elizabeth Bowen |
| title_short | Mémoire et manipulation dans The House in Paris d’Elizabeth Bowen |
| title_sort | memoire et manipulation dans the house in paris d elizabeth bowen |
| url | http://journals.openedition.org/ebc/7201 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT shannonwellslassagne memoireetmanipulationdansthehouseinparisdelizabethbowen |