Reviving Memory and Reinventing Selfhood through Architecture in W. G. SEBALD's Austerlitz
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Date
2025-07-13
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UNIVERSITY OF MOHAMED BOUDIAF- M’SILA
Abstract
ABSTRACT
This research scrutinizes memory revival and selfhood reinvention through architecture in W.G. Sebald's Austerlitz. More specifically, it aims to shed light on the role of architecture in reviving the characters’ memories and reconstructing Austerlitz’s identity and how it might evoke emotions and feelings. It engages with Sebald's protagonist: Austerlitz in his struggle to find his origins. This study is significant in the sense it adds to existing body of literature on memory and identity new layers by providing new insights into the role of architecture in evoking memory and reinventing identity. This study, at another dimension, is important not merely for literature, but also to architecture as a tool of expressing social and cultural heritage. To achieve the research aim, the dissertation hinges upon a theoretical framework that is anchored in Gaston Bachelard’s Poetics of Space and Pierre Nora’s Places of Memory, entwined with psychological concepts of memory and identity, because space and place are two important architectural elements which have a strong relationship with memory and identity. The findings of this dissertation demonstrate that architecture has a great impact on characters in recalling past events, emotions, and feelings through the meaning and symbolism of architectural elements such as spaces, places of memory, building materials, and design style.
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Key words: Memory, Identity, Architecture, Place, Space.