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RESEARCH PRODUCT

"Govoriti ćutanjem nije isto što i ćutati”. Analiza romana "Kuća sećanja i zaborava" Filipa Davida

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The paper analyzes the diverse representations of silence. The starting point is the thesis assuming that the Serbian writer’s novel belongs to the category of Holocaust texts endeavoring to describe/transcribe trauma. Such an experience resists verbalization, and aporia is inscribed in the very attempt to transfer it via language. The subsequent sections of the article are devoted to the various modes of manifestations of silence/muteness in the novel. Among others, these are: the images of aphasia triggered by the dramatic experience (it is worth noticing here that the novel reuses its author’s autobiographical experiences); post-memory, which is directly connected to the broken communication stemming from the inability to surpass trauma; muteness, which firstly accompanies the prohibition to talk openly about the Jewish origins, and after the rescue touches upon the mystery of the “survivor’s” genuine identity. Silence/muteness appears in the novel also in reference to certain formal procedures: ellipses and blank spaces which force the receiver to specify them, and the consistently rising atmosphere which prefigures the sudden (or dramatic) change of action. Silence as a sound – or its absence, to be precise – becomes the foundation of the father’s (one of the protagonist’s) obsession with composing music that would reflect the Jews’ suffering and, consequently, become a proof for their existence. What is more, the paper deals with the issue of responsibility that stems from the passive attitude and the lack of activity which are linked to muteness in the time of the trial.