Displacement, memory, and postmemory in three novels from Brazil, Argentina, and Chile

Abstract

This essay examines issues of displacement, exile, and non-belonging, and their impact on a subject’s sense of identity, in three novels by South American women writers: Ana Maria Machado (Brazil), Griselda Gambaro (Argentina), and Alejandra Costamagna (Chile). Furthermore, the essay discusses how memory and postmemory are fundamental elements in narratives in which the narrator and/or protagonist set out to write and rewrite self-identity, family and national histories.