Between Hope and Despair: Daša Drndić’s Literary Memory Narratives

• In Event: Post-Yugoslav Literature(s) in Transnational Perspective

Abstract

This paper will start from positioning Daša Drndić as a transnational post-Yugoslav woman writer. Inspired by Azade Seyhan’s conceptualization of “writing outside the nation,“ the paper identifies cultural memory mediation as a key aspect of Drndić’s writing. In the next step, it explores whether Drndić’s critical literary memory narratives, which have been largely interpreted in a ’trauma’ key, have future-oriented characteristics, aiming to open the broader question of futurity in the first generation of post-Yugoslav writers. In particular, I am interested if the concept of “memory of hope”, as developed by Ann Rigney, can be applied in this context.

Author

• Dara Sljukic, Central European U (Austria)