Remembrance of Things in Past: History and Memory in the Graphic NovelWaltz with Bashir: A Lebanon War Story

Q1 Arts and Humanities

Media Watch Pub Date : 2022-05-01 DOI:10.1177/09760911221092586

Deblina Rout

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Abstract

This article attempts to read Ari Folman and David Polonsky’s graphic war manifesto Waltz with Bashir (2008) as an example of postmodern historiography on the 1982 invasion of Beirut through the lens of a soldier’s (read Folman’s) traumatic memory. Through its universal critique of war, the text probes the problematic ways in which memory and traumatic lived realities interact to create narratives that subvert populist/national discourses. Folman’s amnesiac memory, which refuses to uphold a linear progression of the past, brings before the reader/viewer dual textual registers of identity formation (through Folman’s coming to terms with his repressed memories as a soldier in Lebanon) within the attempted counter-narrative against totalitarian histories. The article looks at how Folman’s amnesiac memory becomes a tool through which an ‘individual’ subjective history is birthed—thus giving rise to a reverse bildungsroman—within the contours of a counter-narrative on the national history of Israel’s war in Lebanon. Finally, in positing history as a project against totalitarianism, the article attempts to question what constitutes historicity: Is it the facticity of past events that determines their actual value? If so, what does it bode for a post-truth, polysemiotic world?

查看原文本刊更多论文

回忆过去的事情:图画小说中的历史和记忆与巴希尔华尔兹:黎巴嫩战争的故事

本文试图解读阿里·福尔曼(Ari Folman)和大卫·波隆斯基(David Polonsky)的图解战争宣言《与巴希尔华尔兹》(2008)，以此作为后现代史学的一个例子，通过一个士兵(福尔曼)创伤记忆的镜头来研究1982年入侵贝鲁特的事件。通过对战争的普遍批判，本书探讨了记忆和创伤性生活现实相互作用的问题方式，创造了颠覆民粹主义/民族话语的叙事。福尔曼的失忆症记忆拒绝支持过去的线性发展，在试图反对极权主义历史的反叙事中，将身份形成的双重文本记录(通过福尔曼与他作为黎巴嫩士兵的压抑记忆达成协议)呈现在读者/观众面前。这篇文章着眼于福尔曼的健忘症记忆如何成为一种工具，通过它，一个“个人”的主观历史诞生了——从而产生了一个反向的成长小说——在一个关于以色列在黎巴嫩战争的民族历史的反叙事的轮廓内。最后，在假定历史是一项反对极权主义的工程时，文章试图质疑是什么构成了历史性:是过去事件的真实性决定了它们的实际价值吗?如果是这样，这预示着一个后真相、多义的世界将会怎样?

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Media Watch Arts and Humanities-Literature and Literary Theory

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期刊介绍： Journal of Media Watch is a double blind peer-reviewed tri-annual journal published from India. It is the only journal in the discipline from Asia and India listed in many leading indexing platforms. The journal keeps high quality peer evaluation and academic standards in all levels of its publication. Journal of Media Watch reflects empirical and fundamental research, theoretical articulations, alternative critical thinking, diverse knowledge spectrum, cognizant technologies, scientific postulates, alternative social synergies, exploratory documentations, visual enquiries, narrative argumentations, innovative interventions, and minority inclusiveness in its content and selection. The journal aims at publishing and documenting research publication in the field of communication and media studies that covers a wide range of topics and sub-fields like print media, television, radio, film, public relations, advertising, journalism and social media and the cultural impact and activation of these media in the society. It aims at providing a platform for the scholars to present their research to an international academic community with wide access and reach. Published topics in Media Watch enjoy very high impact and major citation. The journal is supported by strong international editorial advisory support from leading academicians in the world.