My Memories Lie on the Shores of the River Shannon
<p dir="ltr">Taking up almost one fifth of the area of Ireland, the River Shannon appears prominently in Irish literature and folklore. Since antiquity, the shores of the River Shannon are sites of cultural and personal memory.</p><p dir="ltr">Ian Maleney’s essa...
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2025
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| Sammanfattning: | <p dir="ltr">Taking up almost one fifth of the area of Ireland, the River Shannon appears prominently in Irish literature and folklore. Since antiquity, the shores of the River Shannon are sites of cultural and personal memory.</p><p dir="ltr">Ian Maleney’s essay collection Minor Monuments (2019) explores how recording the sound of the bog lands by the River Shannon and the voice of his grandfather constructs a complex relationship between the nature of memory and life narrative. Sound and sensory experiences aid memory recall and act as a thread connecting isolated memories to form a narrative. Cissi Tsang argues: ‘Sound can be the conduit for mediating knowledge and imagination’ (Tsang, 2021, p.103). Memory is somewhat fictitious and the interjection of fictional elements in life writing structures narrative. Through his recordings, Maleney discovers more about his relationship with his family and the fragmentary nature of memory.</p><p dir="ltr">In 2006 I visited the shores of the River Shannon. A short car journey away from its banks lies the ruins of my grandmother’s childhood home. Growing up on a small farm not far from the banks of the River Shannon, the desolate remains of my grandmother’s home hold my family’s history. My memories of my grandmother’s house are fragmentary but are fused together by the sensory memories I hold linking to the River Shannon.</p><p dir="ltr">Using Maleney’s Minor Monuments and media from my family’s digital archive, I analyse how sound narrativizes the fragmentary nature of memory in life writing. This paper uses a hauntological approach as it explores nature reclaiming the ruins of my grandmother’s cottage, the false memories created from sensory memory recall, and collective Irish class identity when exploring family history.</p> |
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