Lacunary unity : family albums in Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride

Title: Lacunary unity : family albums in Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride
Variant title:
  • Unité lacunaire : des albums photos dans The Robber Bride de Margaret Atwood
Author: Krausz, Katinka
Source document: The Central European journal of Canadian studies. 2020, vol. 15, iss. [1], pp. 79-90
Extent
79-90
  • ISSN
    1213-7715 (print)
    2336-4556 (online)
Type: Article
Language
License: Not specified license
Rights access
embargoed access
 

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Abstract(s)
Ever since their first appearance, family photograph albums have been created to follow the strict social conventions surrounding the institution of the family, with photographs as the representations of these. The creators of family albums sought to produce a contiguous narrative that, by focusing on significant events (births, weddings, etc.), left out everyday life almost completely. As well, attempts to conform to social conventions often resulted in a contradiction between what was represented in the album and the experiences that the subjects recalled. Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride presents two mothers, both of whom are building the family narrative in photo albums, but both narratives are in contrast with their lived realities. The novel also shows the daughter of one of the mothers and how she is affected by encountering the pictures her mother took when she was a baby. My paper investigates the effects of the contradiction between the albums and the characters' experiences using, among others, works by Marianne Hirsch and Pierre Bourdieu as a critical framework.
Dès leur première apparition, des albums de photographies de famille ont été créés pour suivre les conventions sociales strictes qui entourent l'institution de la famille, et les photographies comme leur représentations. Les créateurs d'albums de famille ont cherché à produire un récit qui a été considéré comme contigu, bien qu'il soit passé d'un événement significatif (naissances, mariages, etc.) à l'autre, en laissant presque complètement à côté la vie quotidienne. Malgré tout ça, les tentatives de se conformer aux conventions sociales ont souvent produit une contradiction entre ce qui est représenté dans l'album et ce que les sujets ont rappelé comme ayant vécu. The Robber Bride de Margaret Atwood présente deux mères qui construisent toutes les deux le récit familial dans des albums photo, mais les deux récits se contrastent avec leur réalité vécue. Le roman parle aussi de la fille de l'une des mères et de comment elle est affectée par les photos que sa mère a prises lorsqu'elle était une enfant. Mon article explore les effets de la contradiction entre les albums et les expériences des personnages en utilisant les œuvres de Marianne Hirsch et de Pierre Bourdieu comme cadre critique, parmi des autres.
References
[1] Atwood, Margaret. Lady Oracle. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1976.

[2] Atwood, Margaret. The Robber Bride. London: Bloomsbury, 1993.

[3] Benjamin, Walter. "A Small History of Photography." Translated by Edmund Jephcott and Kingsley Shorter, One-Way Street and Other Writings. London and New York: Verso, 1997, 240–257.

[4] Bourdieu, Pierre. Photography: A Middle-brow Art. Translated by Shaun Whiteside. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1998.

[5] Boym, Svetlana. "Introduction: Taboo on Nostalgia?" In The Future of Nostalgia. New York: Basic Books, 2001, xiii-xix.

[6] Hirsch, Julia. Family Photographs: Content, Meaning, and Effect. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.

[7] Hirsch, Marianne. "Introduction: Familial Looking." In The Familial Gaze, edited by Marianne Hirsch. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 1999, xi-xxv.

[8] Gallop, Jane. "Observations of a Mother." In The Familial Gaze, edited by Marianne Hirsch. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 1999, 67–84.

[9] Kunt, Ernő. Fotoantropológia. Miskolc: ARC Árkádiusz, 1995.

[10] McDowell, Deborah E. "Viewing the remains: A Polemic on Death, Spectacle, and the [Black] Family." In The Familial Gaze. edited by Marianne Hirsch. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 1999, 153–177.

[11] Miller, Nancy K. "Putting Ourselves into the Picture: Memoirs and Mourning." In The Familial Gaze, edited by Marianne Hirsch. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 1999, 51–66.

[12] Novak, Lorie. "Collected Visions." In The Familial Gaze, edited by Marianne Hirsch. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 1999, 14–31

[13] Spitzer, Leo. "The Album and the Crossing." In The Familial Gaze, edited by Marianne Hirsch. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 1999, 208–220.