Time(less) memories in Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye

Title: Time(less) memories in Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye
Variant title:
  • Mémoire (a)temporelle dans Cat's Eye de Margaret Atwood
Source document: The Central European journal of Canadian studies. 2020, vol. 15, iss. [1], pp. 65-77
Extent
65-77
  • ISSN
    1213-7715 (print)
    2336-4556 (online)
Type: Article
Language
License: Not specified license
Rights access
embargoed access
 

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Abstract(s)
The article focuses on Margaret Atwood's novel Cat's Eye (1988), which examines the different stages of the life of the protagonist, Elaine Risley, and its events as they are perceived and apprehended in childhood and adulthood. The memories of the adult visual artist (a middle-aged woman in her early fifties) are crucial in how they filter the intensity, pain and sadness of childhood. How does the visual artist provide an outlet for these memories? Time is both a symbol and key element in the novel; however, as Atwood has stated, "time is lumpy." And as she claims in the novel, "You don't look back along time but down through it, like water. Sometimes this comes to the surface, sometimes that, sometimes nothing. Nothing goes away." Hence time is not orderly and art as a medium is used to make sense of it. And through the perception of time as a major symbol the traumatic memories of the main protagonist continue to haunt and surface, which creates the concept of time(less) memory.
L'article se concentre sur le roman Cat's Eye (1988) de Margaret Atwood et examine les étapes de la vie de la protagoniste, Elaine Risley, et comment elle perçoit les événements de sa vie – de l'enfance jusqu'à l'âge adulte. Les souvenirs de l'artiste adulte (une femme au début de la cinquantaine) sont importants dans la façon dont ils filtrent l'intensité, la douleur et la tristesse de l'enfance. Comment l'artiste visuel fournit-il un exutoire à ces souvenirs ? Le temps est à la fois un symbole et un élément clé du roman. Cependant, comme Atwood l'a déclaré, "le temps est compté / plein de bosses ?" ("lumpy"). Et comme Atwood le prétend dans le roman, "On ne regarde pas en arrière le long du temps, mais plutôt au travers, comme dans de l'eau. Parfois, ceci remonte à la surface, parfois cela, et d'autres fois, rien. Mais rien ne disparaît" Par conséquent, le temps n'est pas ordonné et l'art en tant que médium est utilisé pour lui donner un sens. Et, à travers la perception du temps comme symbole majeur, les souvenirs traumatiques du protagoniste principal continuent de hanter et de faire surface, ce qui crée le concept de mémoire atemporelle.
References
[1] Atwood, Margaret. Cat's Eye. Bantam Books, United States of America, 1989.

[2] Atwood, Margaret. "Dire Cartographies: The Roads to Ustopia" 62–86. In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination. 2011 Signal Toronto: eBook

[3] "Definition of Time." http://www.exactlywhatistime.com/definition-of-time/.

[4] Kerskens, Christel. "Atwood's Surfacing and Cat's Eye: A Theme with Variations." In Graduate Work in Canadian Studies in Europe, edited by Hilligje van't Land et al. Canada Cahiers No. 7. The Hague: 1993, 134–140.

[5] Lifton, Robert J. "Understanding the traumatized self: imagery, symbolization andtransformation." In Human Adaptation to Extreme Stress: From the Holocaust to Vietnam, edited by John P. Wilson et al. New York, Plenum Press: 1988, 7–31.

[6] "Louis de Niverville." Web. n. p. The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/louis-de-niverville Accessed 3 January 2020.

[7] Manserus, Laura. "Different Brands of Meanness." New York Times. February 5, 1989. Available at: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/00/09/03/specials/atwood-eye.html

[8] Naughtie, James. "Margaret Atwood: Cat's Eye." BBC Book Club. May 2, 1999. Available at:https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00fpv3c

[9] Spence, Jonathan D. "Margaret Atwood and the Edges of History." The American HistoricalReview 103, no. 5 (1998): 1522–525. | DOI 10.2307/2649968

[10] Tomalin, Claire. Review of Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood. Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood." The Guardian. 29 January 1989. Available at: www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/03/backpages-cats-eye-by-margaret-atwood-claire-tomalin-review

[11] Vickroy, Laurie. (2005). "Seeking Symbolic Immortality: Visualizing Trauma in 'Cat's Eye.'" Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal, 38. (2005): 129–143. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44029436.