“…Inconspicuousness and a Lot of Memories”: Mediums of Memory in Bettina Spoerri’s Novel Konzert für die Unerschrockenen (2013)

Abstract

In this article, the reconstruction of the family history in Bettina Spoerri’s novel Konzert für die Unerschrockenen [Concert for the Fearless] is analysed. The narration contains different mediums of memory. The central medium of memory is music: for the narrator, this archive of the memory mainly consists of old recordings, but also of reminiscences about the concerts and private performances of Leah, the main protagonist of the novel. Photographs, by means of ekphrasis, serve as another essential medium of memory, opening up “the windows of time” (Overath). In this article, these mediums are considered in the context of the ideas of Sontag and Barthes. The widely understood concept of art (paintings by Rothko, installations by Horn, plays by Chekhov) is yet another medium of memory, connecting the present with a past that does not exist any more. This reconstructed story is part of the genealogy of the writer, who belongs to the third post-Shoah generation.