Amnesia of Death: The Unsettled Endings of the Dead Who Don’t Know They’re Dead
In this essay, I try to explicate the recent prominence of texts and films that feature protagonists whose memories have been erased, and particularly who don’t remember their own histories, and especially the paradoxical fact that they have died. These often traumatized figures—who need a designati...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"
2018-07-01
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| Series: | Sillages Critiques |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/6053 |
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| author | Richard Hardack |
| author_facet | Richard Hardack |
| author_sort | Richard Hardack |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this essay, I try to explicate the recent prominence of texts and films that feature protagonists whose memories have been erased, and particularly who don’t remember their own histories, and especially the paradoxical fact that they have died. These often traumatized figures—who need a designation, and whom we might call the nescient dead (“ND”)—are not zombies; they simply don’t realize that they are dead or exist in a repetitive flux between what Lacan termed the two deaths. Many of these narratives update a Modernist sense of belatedness, reflecting our anxiety that something has already ended, but we haven’t acknowledged it yet. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-fba7139967bf4896823d59ac73886f24 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1272-3819 1969-6302 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2018-07-01 |
| publisher | Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte" |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sillages Critiques |
| spelling | doaj-art-fba7139967bf4896823d59ac73886f242025-01-30T13:46:58ZengCentre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"Sillages Critiques1272-38191969-63022018-07-012410.4000/sillagescritiques.6053Amnesia of Death: The Unsettled Endings of the Dead Who Don’t Know They’re DeadRichard HardackIn this essay, I try to explicate the recent prominence of texts and films that feature protagonists whose memories have been erased, and particularly who don’t remember their own histories, and especially the paradoxical fact that they have died. These often traumatized figures—who need a designation, and whom we might call the nescient dead (“ND”)—are not zombies; they simply don’t realize that they are dead or exist in a repetitive flux between what Lacan termed the two deaths. Many of these narratives update a Modernist sense of belatedness, reflecting our anxiety that something has already ended, but we haven’t acknowledged it yet.https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/6053psychoanalysisrepetitionpostmodernismtraumadeathLacan |
| spellingShingle | Richard Hardack Amnesia of Death: The Unsettled Endings of the Dead Who Don’t Know They’re Dead Sillages Critiques psychoanalysis repetition postmodernism trauma death Lacan |
| title | Amnesia of Death: The Unsettled Endings of the Dead Who Don’t Know They’re Dead |
| title_full | Amnesia of Death: The Unsettled Endings of the Dead Who Don’t Know They’re Dead |
| title_fullStr | Amnesia of Death: The Unsettled Endings of the Dead Who Don’t Know They’re Dead |
| title_full_unstemmed | Amnesia of Death: The Unsettled Endings of the Dead Who Don’t Know They’re Dead |
| title_short | Amnesia of Death: The Unsettled Endings of the Dead Who Don’t Know They’re Dead |
| title_sort | amnesia of death the unsettled endings of the dead who don t know they re dead |
| topic | psychoanalysis repetition postmodernism trauma death Lacan |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/6053 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT richardhardack amnesiaofdeaththeunsettledendingsofthedeadwhodontknowtheyredead |