Forensic Memory

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Johanne Helbo Bøndergaard

   Pages 1-46

3. After Testimony

   • Johanne Helbo Bøndergaard

   Pages 47-112

4. Forensic Traces

   • Johanne Helbo Bøndergaard

   Pages 113-166

5. Forensic Narration

   • Johanne Helbo Bøndergaard

   Pages 167-216

6. Conclusion

   • Johanne Helbo Bøndergaard

   Pages 217-225

7. Back Matter

   Pages 227-242

   PDF

This book describes and analyses a particular literary mode that challenges the aesthetics of testimony by approaching the past through detection, analysis, and ‘archaeological’ digging. How does forensic literature narrate the past in terms of plot, language, narration, and use of visual media? This volume examines how forensic literature provides an important corrective to the forensic paradigm and a means of exploring the relationship between visual and material evidence and various forms of testimony. This literary engagement with the past is investigated in order to challenge a forensic paradigm that aims to eliminate the problems related to human testimony through scientific objectivity, resulting in a fresh and original text in which Bøndergaard argues literature’s potential to explore the mechanisms of representation, interpretation, and narration.

• forensic practices
• testimony
• forensic literature
• historical conflict
• memory
• archives
• trauma

  “Bøndergaard’s work breaks new ground by drawing attention to the emergence of ‘forensic memory’ in literature after testimony.  The study astutely  tackles the complex interplay between materiality, law, science and subjectivity in ways that are illuminating and original.” (Anna Reading, Kings College, University of London, UK)

“Forensic Memory is a major contribution to the field of literary memory studies. It offers a compelling new way of understanding memory literature beyond the aesthetics of testimony. Bøndergaard discusses the recent forensic turn in cultural memory and draws our attention to the ‘forensic mode’ in literature: works that approach the past through detection, analysis, and archaeology. She shows how, at the same time, such literature can uncover the paradoxes inherent in forensics. Forensic Memory is a fascinating read, a timely and very welcome broadening of our perspective on memory and literature – recommended to anyone interested in recent developments in memory culture and memory studies.” (Astrid Erll, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany)

• Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

  Johanne Helbo Bøndergaard

Johanne Helbo Bøndergaard completed her Ph.D at Aarhus University in 2015. Her research areas include cultural memory studies, narratology and comparative literature. 

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