The Vanishing Self: The Politics of Forgetting in Russophone and Balkan Literatures and Film

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

This panel explores the relationships between memory, its loss, and identity in Russophone and Balkan literatures and film. Focusing on how memory functions as both a personal and collective experience, we aim to examine the diverse ways in which memory loss — whether through the gradual erosion of individual memory, the effects of historical trauma, or the manipulation of collective memory — affects individuals and societies. Topics may include, but are not limited to: the representation of personal and collective memory and its loss; the interplay between memory and history; the impact of trauma on remembrance; the roles of nostalgia and amnesia; the exploration of memory loss across various genres and media; and the ethical dimensions of remembering and forgetting. The panel aims to highlight how memory, whether lost, preserved, or distorted, plays a crucial role in shaping both individual experiences and broader societal narratives.

Sub Unit

• Literature: 20th Century

Chair

• Jehanne M Gheith, Duke U

Papers

• 'Call up your memories...wake them from the dead, and wake yourself, too': Memory and Mortality in Dostoevsky's Uncle’s Dream - Leah Plekhanova

• Remembering and Forgetting in Chekhov - Michael C. Finke, U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• One World under Stalin’s Shadow: Post-Soviet Representations of Stalinist Repression in Kazakhstan - Hayate Murayama, UC Santa Barbara

• 'I am terrified. Terrified of the Self': The Politics of Memory in Balkan Cinema - Marina Filipovic, Bates College

Discussants

• Anara Jeenbekova, U of Washington

• Jasmina Savic, George Mason U