W, or the Memory of Childhood

 

    Finally! An author I know! I have been SLOWLY reading Perec's A Void for ages now, I really cant get into it because I keep just rereading sections to make sure there is really no 'e' there. I have to admit the difficulty I had reading A Void did not give me much hope for this book. I could talk extensively about my appreciation of A Void in an artistic, boundary pushing, breaking away from norms wowee kinda way but as a book goes, it is kinda rough to read honestly. Anyway! Onto the book I am actually meant to be writing about. W, or the Memory of Childhood was pleasantly read-able for me. It became very quickly obvious that there was two seperate sets of memories that were intertwined into eachother. A note at the beginning of the book brough to my attention that 'W' should not be thought of as 'double-u' as in French it is called 'double vé.' I do not know what the word in French but in Spanish I first thought of vida which I guess I should note means life incase you don't know. The title fits perfectly for the two intertwining stories being told.

    The more fantastical storyline occuring in this novel struck me as a childs coping mechanism at first. I know atleast the part about the island W is based off of a story Perec wrote at 13. When this storyline switched over to focusing on the island I was immediately struck by how cultish it felt. I was intrigued and really found myself looking forward to the next part. The extreme conditions the athletes lived in were representative of what Perec's mother went through in the concentration camps in real life. This comparison lead me to further realize thar this fantastical story was like a parallel world to real life. A still pretty depressing reimagination of the horrific things that a 13 year old may not have been able to fully comprehend. 

    I pretty quickly became a lot more interested in the story about the island than the chapters about Perec's fragmented and warped childhood memories but overall I really enjoyed both. It was depressing honestly, it wasn't because of what I was reading but the context around it and this sorta childlike but also disturbing tale being told at the same time made me sad. I am done rambling now I think, I have no other thoughts about this that I can word well. To wrap this up I have a very simple question, which part of this story interested you more?

Comments

  1. JonMarch 7, 2022 at 9:24 PM

    "I have been SLOWLY reading Perec's A Void for ages now, I really cant get into it because I keep just rereading sections to make sure there is really no 'e' there."

    Ha! Interesting! (Though I think his masterpiece is Life, a User's Manual.)

    As for "this sorta childlike but also disturbing tale," sometimes children (and childhood) are disturbing. The W story reminded me a little of Lord of the Flies... which starts innocently enough, but in which gradually everything degenerates into madness and murder.

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  2. Madi WildeMarch 7, 2022 at 9:43 PM

    Hi Dee! I think I preferred the story of W but both balanced the other one nicely. The story of W was more fantastic and magical which has always interested me more so than realistic stories.

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