Week Eight: Georges Perec, W, or the Memory of Childhood

This week, the book that I chose to read was W, or the Memory of Childhood by author Georges Perec. I found this story to be quite emotional. The main themes of this story are kind of obvious (seeing as they are in the title), but I will list them regardless: childhood, memory, life and the struggles of those who were affected by the horrors of the Second World War. 

I currently can’t think of anything super brilliant to say, so I’ll just discuss a quote that I really liked. Right at the beginning of the story, there was one sentence in particular that caught my eye.  

“Even if I have the help only of yellowing snapshots, a handful of eyewitness accounts and a few paltry documents to prop up my implausible memories, I have no alternative but to conjure up what for too many years I called the irrevocable: the things that were, the things that stopped, the things that were closed off things that surely were and today are no longer, but things that also were so that I may still be.”

This quote was said while the narrator was describing how, despite having a blurry, blank memory of their childhood, the things that happened and the experiences that were had were fundamental in the person that they grew up to become. I thought that the way this sentence was written was beautiful, especially the end. It is relatable in the sense that while there are certain moments and events that took place during my early life, I don’t remember most of it and I am only aware of their occurrence thanks to the stories that are told back to me by my parents and other people. Even if we don’t recall something, it doesn’t mean that it’s impact on our lives and on our growth were insignificant. Reading this reminded me of Proust and the way in which he placed lots of emphasis on doing his best to reminisce and savour every detail of his memories. By definition, things that are ephemeral (like the brief moments of our childhood) come and go in quick succession, but it doesn’t lessen their importance. 

One other thought about this book: the way in which it was written was different from the books I typically read, but I enjoyed the different style. In a way, the storytelling created depth on two levels and I believe that it was one of the qualities that stood out from the novels we’ve been reading thus far in our class. 

Here is my question for this week: How did you find the structure of this narrative? For you personally, was the fashion in which the two stories interweaved result in an impactful and powerful piece of writing?