REVERSING ABSENCE. THE EXPLORATIONS OF MEMORY IN “THE YELLOW BIRDS” BY KEVIN POWERS

Amelia PRECUP

doi:10.24193/subbphilo.2017.1.12

Authors

Amelia PRECUP Faculty of Letters of Babeş-Bolyai University. Contact address: amelia.precup@ubbcluj.ro amelia.nan@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0279-7503

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24193/subbphilo.2017.1.12

Keywords:

war literature, Kevin Powers, The Yellow Birds, Iraq War, memory, meaning, representation, grief, culpability.

Abstract

Reversing absence. The Exploration of Memory in The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers. The Yellow Birds has been acclaimed as one of the best contemporary novels on war. It builds on the recollections of John Bartle, a soldier who strives to cope with the death of Murph, his comrade-in-arms, by revisiting episodes that took place during deployment and by probing his own level of culpability, of moral and psychological weariness, after the return home. Remembrance is central to the narrative, and therefore the main concern of this paper is to look into the multifaceted exploration of memory as a means of creating a space for reconciliation with the past and of coming to terms with traumatic events.

REZUMAT. Explorarea memoriei în Păsările galbene de Kevin Powers. Păsările glbene de Kevin Powers este considerat printe cele mai bine scrise romane contemporane de război. Romanul se conturează în jurul amintirilor lui John Bartle, soldat care caută strategii de acceptare a morții lui Murph, camaradul său de arme, atât prin reexaminarea unor episoade ce s-au petrecut pe front, cât și prin sondarea nivelului propriu de culpabilitate, de oboseală psihică și morală, după întoarcerea acasă. Rememorarea este centrală întregului proces și, în consecință, preocuparea principală a acestei lucrări este de a analiza explorarea multilaterală a memoriei ca strategie de creare a unui spațiu de reconciliere cu trecutul și de gestionare a evenimentelor traumatice.

Cuvinte cheie: literatură de război, Kevin Powers, Păsările galbene, războiul din Irak, memorie, sens, reprezentare, suferință, culpabilitate

Author Biography

Amelia PRECUP, Faculty of Letters of Babeş-Bolyai University. Contact address: amelia.precup@ubbcluj.ro amelia.nan@gmail.com

Amelia Precup is assistant professor at the English Department of the Faculty of Letters of Babeş-Bolyai University. Her academic interests include seventeenth-century and eighteenth-century English literature, recent American literature, gender studies, and ethnic studies. She has presented or published papers on various topics related to the above-mentioned fields. She was awarded the 2012 Eccles Center Postgraduate Award for her doctoral research project on Woody Allen’s short fiction. Contact address: <amelia.nan@gmail.com>

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