Mnemonic modes in Emily Nasrallah's A House not her own (Bayt Laysa Lahā)

Abstract

This study traces the various modes in which memory is represented in this collection of short stories by the Lebanese writer, Emily Na◊rallah. By placing the processes of remembering in these stories against the background of violence and "dismemberment" which prevailed in Beirut during the civil war, the study reveals the sense of dislocation and estrangement from "home" which is at the heart of Na◊rallah's work. It also dismantles the strategies and techniques that Na◊rallah utilizes to give a voice to the "voiceless" victims and survivors of this war.Whether partly recuperative or absolutely tyrannical in its effects, memory functions as an essential medium for the reclamation of the past and the protestation against the dehumanizing effects of war. For the woman writer herself, writing about or remembering the war grants her the chance to sublimate suffering into artistic creativity which finds expression in the act of storytelling itself.This study aims at tracing the diverse modes in which memory is inscribed in Emily Na◊rallah's A House Not Her Own: Stories from Beirut against the backdrop of dismembering, which prevails in Beirut of the civil war period (1975)(1976)(1977)(1978)(1979)(1980)(1981)(1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986)(1987)(1988)(1989)(1990)(1991). The traumatic experiences of war had a tremendous impact on the personal as well as the collective archives of memory of Lebanese people. Na◊rallah documents the intricate processes of resistance and survival through memory initially at a personalized level, but aims eventually at linking personal loss (of peace, security, and loved ones) to a more existential map of suffering. Despite the fact that memories normally flow spontaneously, one may speak of patterns which trigger and color the process of remembering itself. This study will analyze the different modes of memory presentations in the stories and show how they are closely bound to the absurdly random process of dismembering. Dismemberment-whether that of psyches, bodies, buildings, families, or the nation at large-is closely interwoven with the act of remembering the past in these narratives about war.