On The Memory Writing In Graham Swift’s Waterland

Graham Swift is an important novelist in contemporary British literary world.He was nominated for the Booker Prize for his Waterland published in 1983.Because of its superb narrative and unique style,Waterland is recommended by hundreds of Harvard professors as the most influential book.This thesis mainly analyzes the memory writing in Waterland in the light of cultural memory theory of Jan Assmann and Aleida Assmann.Through systematically exploring the loss of traumatic individual memory,the reversion of collective memory of Fens,the reconstruction of British national memory and the way the memory of the past is re-presented in current,revealing that cultural memory and its presentification play an important role in the construction of identity.The thesis is divided into three chapters.The first chapter explores the loss of traumatic memory of individuals.Ernest Atkinson’s political trauma memory and Henry Crick’s war trauma memory were constructed by the society at that time,reflecting the overall spirit and dominant political and cultural ideology of the Victorian era.Trauma causes the rupture of memory of the traumatized people,breaking the continuity of individual experience,thus leading to the loss of identity.The second chapter analyzes the reversion of Fens’ collective memory.On the one hand,traditional water life not only conveys people’s cherishing of the traditional lifestyle,but also reflects their recognition of traditional values.On the other hand,when people face great changes,accidents and disasters,they try to find refuge in the mythological tradition of Fens.The memory of the ancestral traditional water life constructed by the pike specimen and the presentification of the myth creat a shared past for people in Fens,who try to find a certain sense of stability,security and belonging in this collective consistency to deal with accidents,fears and identity anxiety.The third chapter probes into the reconstruction of national memory of the British.Through vivid and intuitive monumental reproduction of the memory of the history of British capitalism,Swift writes history into national memory,trying to reconstruct the national identity of “greatness” and“progress”.On the other hand,Swift uses the media of physical places to re-present the glorious memory of the empire on which the sun never sets,helping the British regain their national confidence and national pride in a time when Britain is in decline,thereby contributing to the re-establishment of British national identity in the present.In conclusion,traumatic memory breaks the continuity of individual experience,causing the loss of identity of the traumatized people.People who have suffered from trauma and those facing major life crises need to find a sense of stability and security to deal with dilemma.Fens,as hometown,its traditional aquatic lifestyle reproduced by the pike specimen and the presentification of myth bring back a certain sense of stability,security and belonging for the individuals and help them cope with current anxiety and crisis.In addition,Swift intersperses a lot of historical knowledge in the novel,which reconstructs the British national memory.The reconstructed national memory reproduces the greatness and progress of Britain in the old days,helping people regain their national pride and national confidence,thus contributing to the reconstruction of their national identity of “greatness”and “progress”.Through a deeper exploration of the memory writing in the novel,we find that Swift has incorporated in Waterland his concerns about the fate of the country,which reflecting his profound humanistic care.