"Memory is an ability to collect things." | Writer Maria Stepanova | Louisiana Channel
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- Опубликовано: 26 авг 2024
- "Memory is something we produce. The same story could be told in a dozen of different ways by a single person, but when it goes with the family, the multitude of versions might be striking". Russian poet Maria Stepanova on tracing memory as a literary method.
In her award-winning prose memoir 'In Memory of Memory', Maria Stepanova investigates the nature of memory by telling her family's story. At the same time, it is a history of post-Soviet Russia. Stepanova grew up in an apartment in Moscow crowded with the leftover possessions of past generations: their books, teacups, newspapers, clothes, postcards, toys, photographs, and fragments of family anecdotes.
From early on, she remembers: "I was maybe ten or nine, and my mother was bringing me up as a possible writer: She made me keep a diary. There was a passage about my father asking me what I could make of memory. What does memory represent for me? And I said: 'Memory is an ability to collect things.'"
"I find it quite indescribable that when I visited my aunt in her 80ies, there were yellowish newspapers, magazines, and boxes of something. I am not talking about memorabilia, notebooks, etc, but even I wished to, I couldn't keep on the skyscraper of printed paper, but for sure, she was investing some meaning in them. It kept her life intact. For me, it was a devastating maze of information, and that was where my book, 'In Memory of Memory,' started itself."
Maria Stepanova, born in 1972, is a Russian poet, essayist and journalist. She is the author of more than 10 collections of poetry. 'War of the Beasts and Animals' came in the US in 2021 along with 'The Voice Over' (2021), which includes a selection of Stepanova's poetry and essays originally published in Russia between 1996 and 2016. In Russia she has received many important literary prizes, including the Pasternak Prize and the Andrei Bely Prize in 2005, and the Moscow Account Prize in 2006, 2009, and 2018. Stepanova's work has been translated into English, Hebrew, Spanish, Italian, German, Finnish, French, Danish, and other languages. In 2021 'In Memory of Memory' was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Stepanova was appointed Siegfried-Unseld Guest Professor at Humboldt Universität in Berlin in 2018-2019. In 2007, Stepanova founded Openspace.ru, an online magazine dedicated to Russian-language arts and culture. She served as editor-in-chief of Openspace.ru until 2012, when she left the publication along with the majority of her editorial staff due to a withdrawal of funding from private investors. Stepanova disagreed with investor oversight amid the uncertain Russian political landscape; this droves her to found Colta.ru, the first Russian media outlet supported entirely by crowdfunding, providing Stepanova more editorial freedom as editor-in-chief.
Lotte Folke Kaarsholm interviewed Maria Stepanova in August 2022 in connection with the Louisiana Literature festival at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark,
Camera: Rasmus Quistgaard
Edit: Signe Boe Pedersen
Produced by Christian Lund
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2023
Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet
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Recently I had a loss of someone I dearly loved. I had this sudden urge to collect books from my childhood that I remembered all my life. I found 4 through a hard-to-find bookseller. I questioned why I wanted to do this in my journal. The answer came out like this: "For some reason, the little girl in me is sharing her memories and wants me to remember. I will reread the words that gave her joy with elder eyes. In this way, we will marvel at the journey that lies between us. She is my universe, and I am hers. After all, she was born to be me. Together, hand-in-hand we will move toward the light, never forgetting who we once were and are. We were always meant to be together and knowing this, we are never alone."
please say clearly i didnt understood
oh, ive been watching this series since middle school. what a great surprise to see a video of one of my favorite russian-speaking (thinking, more accurately, perhaps) authors. thanks much for having it recorded and uploaded, a timely discussion
Here is creative genius from Russia ! Her poetry moves the world we all live in. Her talent is worth liking to all of us......
Stepanova is a brilliant thinker. I read her book 'In Memory of Memory' a few years ago and still go over some of her thoughts on the ethics of memory and who owns the past. I am not sure if her essay on the Russian invasion in Ukraine has been translated into English, but that was another great piece of philosophical thought by Stepanova.
Wow... I'll be milling over her words for some time I expect. This interview is a like gift! She has a beautiful mind and voice. Thank you for this! 👌❤️
My god what an intersting mind and voice she has.
What a beautiful way of explaining memory.
What an incredibly amazing author!
the part about families being divided into the storytellers and the silent ...
She's captivating
wow i love her... wish we're neighbors.
❤
I eat this shit up