The bachelor thesis addresses the question of memory and remembrance in the novels The Old man (Yuri Trifonov) and Garden, Ashes (Danilo Kiš). It focuses on the analysis and defining of memory as an important factor in forming or constituting ones' own past. Memory has the function of bearing witness to (ones’ own) history and its verification (which is simultaneously reinforced by documentary material) and also the establishment of the identity of both protagonists. Where the power of memory fails (voluntary or involuntary), the missing pieces are filled by the relativisation of truth (The Old man) or with the power of imagination (Garden, Ashes); both aspects are so powerful and overwhelming, that the boundaries between truth and fiction of memory are blurred. Memory and remembrance of Letunov and Andi are important for their role in the creation of the historical past and truth. Furthermore, they play the role of establishing the identity of the two protagonists, involved in the might and ruthlessness of historical time.
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