Narrative Strategies for Reclaiming the Memory of Historical Events in Theodora Dimova’s Novel The Defeated

Abstract

This essay analyses The Defeated (2019), the latest novel by Bulgarian writer Theodora Dimova, as well as the ways in which literary narrative can affect collective memory. Dimova’s book references events that unfolded in Bulgaria in the aftermath of the communist coup on 9 September 1944. The analysis relies on methodology developed in the field of memory studies, focusing on collective memory (A. Assmann, J. Assmann), as well as the interrelationship between literature and memory (Erll). The concept of postmemory, as described by Hirsch, is also critical to the arguments presented here, alongside trauma and affect studies (LaCapra, Caruth).