''W, or the Memory of Childhood'' (french: W ou le souvenir d'enfance) is a semi-autobiographical work of fiction by

Georges Perec Georges Perec (; 7 March 1936 – 3 March 1982) was a French novelist, filmmaker, documentalist, and essayist. He was a member of the Oulipo group. His father died as a soldier early in the Second World War and his mother was killed in the Hol ...

, published in 1975. Perec's novel consists of alternating chapters of autobiography and of a fictional story, divided into two parts. The

autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

thread is a collection of uncertain memories, as well as descriptions of photos which preserve moments from Perec's childhood. The memories in the first part of the book lead up to Perec's separation from his mother when he was evacuated in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The second part recollects his life as an evacuee. The adult

narrator Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

sometimes provides interpretations of the childhood memories, and often comments on details of the memories which his research showed to be false or borrowed.

Plot

In the first part, the fictional narrator is contacted by a mysterious individual, who informs him of the disappearance of a deaf and dumb boy in a shipwreck. The boy is also called Gaspard Winkler—the adult narrator of the story discovers that he took on the boy's identity after deserting the army, although at that time he believed he had been given forged identity papers. In the second part, the fictional narrative (apparently based on a story written by Perec at the age of thirteen) recounts the founding and organisation of a remote island country called W, said to be situated near

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla ...

. Life in W, seemingly modeled on the Olympic ideal, revolves around sport and competition. While at first it seems a

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island societ ...

, successive chapters gradually reveal the arbitrary and cruel rules that govern the lives of the athletes. The final autobiographical chapter links back to the fictional narrative by a quotation from David Rousset about the

Nazi death camps Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...

, where Perec's mother died: by now the reader has discovered that the story of the island is an allegory of life in the camps. Like much of Perec's work, ''W'' is characterized by

word play Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, pho ...

. The title ''W'' is a

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

on "double vé/vie", referring to the two lives and two stories narrated in the text.

Publishing history

* Georges Perec, ''W ou le souvenir d'enfance'' (Paris: Denöel, 1975) * Georges Perec, ''W, or the Memory of Childhood'' trans. by David Bellos (London: Harvill, 1988) * Georges Perec, ''W, or the Memory of Childhood'' trans. by David Bellos (Boston: David R. Godine, Publisher, 2002)

References

External links

Extensive bibliography of secondary work on ''W ou le souvenir d'enfance''Magill Book Review: W, or the Memory of Childhood
by Baptiste Fillon (in French) 1975 novels Novels by Georges Perec French autobiographical novels Novels about the aftermath of the Holocaust Oulipian works {{1970s-autobio-novel-stub

Plot

Publishing history

References

Further reading

External links