Dispatch: Maria Stepanova
In Memory of Memory: A Romance
Original Russian-language publication: Памяти памяти, Novoe Izdatelstvo, 2018.
Translation: In Memory of Memory: A Romance, translated by Sasha Dugdale, New Directions Books, 2021, 432 pp.
About: In Memory of Memory: A Romance was longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2021. Maria Stepanova was born in Moscow in 1972. She is a poet, essayist, and journalist and editor of the online journal Colta.
A few brief passages on memory and the past:
“Memory is handed down, history is written down; memory is concerned with justice, history with preciseness; memory moralizes, history tallies and corrects; memory is based not on knowledge but on experience: compassion with, sympathy for a desperate pain demanding immediate involvement” (p. 80).
“Each of us is in fact a witness to and participant of a lasting catastrophe. [...] Events of the past hundred years have not made humanity more resilient, but they have made us think of the past like a refugee’s suitcase, in which the dearest items of a life have been lovingly packed away” (p. 81).
“There is too much past, and everyone knows it: the excess (which is continually being compared to a flood) oppresses, the force of its surge crashes against the bulwark of any amount of consciousness, it is beyond control and beyond description. [...] Unlike nature, past lives are entirely submissive, allowing us to do whatever we may decide to do with them. [...] Culture treats the past as a state treats its mineral wealth, mining it for all its worth; this parasitical relationship with the dead is a profitable industry” (p. 107).
“Sometimes it seems like it is only possible to love the past if you know if is definitely never going to return” (p. 427).
Interviews (not a comprehensive list):
World Literature Today: “A Conversation with Maria Stepanova,” Kevin M. F. Platt & Mark Lipovetsky, March 2023 issue.
The Booker Prizes: Maria Stepanova and Sasha Dugdale on “In Memory of Memory,” April 25, 2021.
Online reviews (not a comprehensive list):
Los Angeles Review of Books: “The Altar of Oblivion: On Maria Stepanova’s ‘In Memory of Memory,’ Linda Kinstler, March 9, 2021.
Bomb Magazine: “Maria Stepanova’s In Memory of Memory,” Ali Hassani, March 10, 2021.
The Guardian: “In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova review—a family history,” Tessa Hadley, April 7, 2021.
Harvard Review Online: “In Memory of Memory,” Stephanie Newman, May 14, 2021.
Another Chicago Magazine: “Review: ‘In Memory of Memory’ by Maria Stepanova, translated from the Russian by Sasha Dugdale,” Marek Makowski, May 25, 2021.