Memory as an Attempt to Defend Oneself from Evil in Filip David’s Novel House of Memories and Oblivion

Abstract

In this paper the subject of our analysis will be directed towards the category of memory and its function in researching history, which will determine the fate of the hero in the work by Filip David House of Memories and Oblivion. Given that the novel is structured in the form of separate stories which are connected by the same fate, we will attempt to describe in what ways memory influences the main protagonist Albert Vajs. Does it shape his personality, or does it enslave his personality in the past?
By means of introspective techniques of monologue and emphasised psychological motivation, we will analyse the characters of Albert’s three friends (Solomon Levi, Miša Volf, and Urijel Koen) in order to define the function of the ideas of memory and oblivion. We will attempt to explain the syntagm in the title of the novel and thus to answer the question of whether memory is the way to salvation or a defence from evil. Dramatic elements, the emotional charge, phantasmagorical images and nightmares are only some of the unique features of this novel. Given that Albert Vajs rejects the possibility of forgetting and resigning himself to his fate, at the end we come to the conclusion that memory is connected to identity and the past, because it becomes a testimony of our existence.