Memory and History: some reflections on Italo Calvino and the Argentine Disappeared

Danny James (Hispanic Studies, University of Aberdeen) [BIO]

Email: dajames@indiana.edu

 

ABSTRACT:

The paper reflects on the relationship between memory and history as it has emerged in the memory boom of recent years. After a brief examination of the implications for oral history the paper centres its analysis on two distinct embodiments of this complex relationship: a literary text and visual commemorative artefacts. The first focuses on a short story by Italo Calvino – ‘Memories of a Battle’ – about his memories of his participation in the anti-fascist resistance and the second on the photographic representation of the Argentine disappeared and its relationship to the construction of an officially inspired culture of memory of the Argentine military dictatorship (1976–1983)