Memory, identity and displacement in "Heshel’s Kingdom" by Dan Jacobson

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Hešelio karalystė; Tapatybė; Atmintis; Identity; Heshel’s Kingdom; Memory.

ENDan Jacobson’s (1921-2014) Heshel’s Kingdom (1998), referred by critics as "a family memoir", "travel-autobiography", "a case study", to mention a few, recounts the writer’s family history against the backdrop of settings which map their personal and cultural identity. Drawing on memory studies, this paper examines the constellation of themes entwining memory, identity and displacement as revealed in the narrator-subject’s engagement with the family’s past and his own identity. The notion of displacement will be considered with respect to twofold displacement, defined by Angelika Bammer as "the separation of people from their native culture either through physical dislocation [...] or the colonizing imposition of a foreign culture". The analysis also refers to Henri Lefebvre theory of the production of space to bring together the notions of place, memory and history as factors shaping personal and collective identity. [...]. [Extract, p. 38]