In Memory of Memory by Stepanova, Maria

With the death of her aunt, the narrator is left to sift through an apartment full of faded photographs, old postcards, letters, diaries, and heaps of souvenirs: a withered repository of a century of life in Russia. Carefully reassembled with calm, steady hands, these shards tell the story of how a seemingly ordinary Jewish family somehow managed to survive the myriad persecutions and repressions of the last century.

In dialogue with writers like Roland Barthes, W. G. Sebald, Susan Sontag, and Osip Mandelstam, In Memory of Memory is imbued with rare intellectual curiosity and a wonderfully soft-spoken, poetic voice. Dipping into various forms--essay, fiction, memoir, travelogue, and historical documents--Stepanova assembles a vast panorama of ideas and personalities and offers an entirely new and bold exploration of cultural and personal memory.

Author: Maria Stepanova
Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
Published: 02/09/2021
Pages: 400
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.01lbs
Size: 7.80h x 5.10w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9780811228831
Award: National Book Awards - Nominee
Award: Man Booker International Prize - Nominee

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 12/21/2020
Kirkus Reviews 02/15/2021