茱莉亞．法蘭克小說《午間女人》作為集體回憶的媒介

Julia Franck's novel Die Mittagsfrau ("The Noonday Witch") as a medium of collective memory

本文研究內容將一方面討論德國女作家茱莉亞．法蘭克在她文學作品基礎中對20世紀德國歷史記憶文化的想法 (特別是作家法蘭克父親孩童時代親身的經歷)，另ㄧ方面將從這樣的記憶文學中探討一種媒介的技術。2007年，茱莉亞．法蘭克的小說《午間女人》無疑提供了好奇的讀者再次回到德國過去的年代: 一方面讀者正如同作家本身作為第三個世代，試著從時間的距離去解釋上一輩和上上一輩所經歷的災難；另一方面也親身體驗小說從一戰到二戰後，橫跨時代的歷史背景。而《午間女人》也在2007年獲選為德國年度最佳小說，並成為當代記憶小說的指標。就上述的觀點，我們可以反過來思考，以《午間女人》這個具體的例子來說: 文學如何能在記憶文化中產生影響? 針對這樣的小說分析，本文以「母親消失的記憶」、「父親之死的記憶」及「失去認同」等三階段闡述作者如何用不同的角度敘述個人、家族與整個德國歷史的回憶。其最終目的在於探討，記憶文學對於集體回憶所帶有儲存、傳播和溝通的特性。

 

With her 2007 novel The Noonday Witch Julia Franck creates new interest for the German past: First, the reader tries to look from Julia Franck’s perspective as the granddaughter at the disasters of her parents and grandparents, and explain them. Second, the reader tries to embed the whole occurrences in the historical background of the German Empire under Kaiser Wilhelm II, the First World War and the Weimar Republic as well as the Second World War and its consequences. The Noonday Witch was therefore awarded with the "German Book Prize" on 8 October 2007 for the novels rising ideological implications, so that it has gained popularity as a contemporary literature of remembrance. This paper focuses on the relationship between Julia Franck’s ideas of a culture of remembrance of twentieth-century German history (in particular her father’s childhood experience) as a basis for her presentation of literature on the one hand and media technology of literary criticism on the other hand. Therefore, one can ask how literature – with the example of The Noonday Witch – affects the culture of remembrance. My analysis of the novel on the one hand methodically refers to the statement of the individual in society and memory formation, and on the other hand to the observation of specific social memory reflections. Finally, it refers to the question of how individuals shape collective memories in a society and how therefore a literary text works as a medium for memory. I consider this not only as a contribution to the so-called "principle of remembrance" and consequently to the literature of remembrance, but also to the relationship of a culture of remembrance.