CULTURAL MEMORY AS A LITERARY CATEGORY IN CONTEMPORARY FICTION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.57033/mijournals-2026-9-0165Keywords:
cultural memory, contemporary fiction, narrative strategies, memory studies, collective memory, literary analysis, postmemory.Abstract
This study investigates cultural memory as a literary category in
contemporary fiction, examining how novels written between 1987 and 2020 employ
narrative strategies to construct, negotiate, and transmit collective memories of
historically significant events. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Jan Assmann,
Aleida Assmann, Pierre Nora, and Astrid Erll, the research analyzes a corpus of 15
critically acclaimed novels from diverse literary traditions to identify the principal
textual mechanisms through which cultural memory is inscribed in fictional narrative.
A qualitative content analysis of the selected works revealed four dominant literary
strategies: palimpsestic layering of temporal planes, intertextual dialogue with archival
and testimonial sources, the deployment of unreliable or fragmented narration as a
mimesis of traumatic remembrance, and the use of material objects and spatial settings
as mnemonic anchors. The findings demonstrate that contemporary fiction functions not
merely as a reflection of pre-existing cultural memories but as an active medium of memory
production, capable of reshaping collective understandings of the past through aesthetic
and narrative innovation. These results contribute to the growing interdisciplinary
dialogue between memory studies and literary criticism and carry implications for the
teaching of literature as a form of cultural and historical engagement.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Razzaqova MADINAKHON (Author)
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