Memory Writing In Joyce Carol Oates's The Gravedigger's Daughter

Joyce Carol Oates(1938-)is one of the most prolific and eminent contemporary writers in the United States.Her work covers a wide range of genres and themes.The Gravedigger's Daughter(2007),Oates's 36th novel,centers on the identity search of the Schwarts—a Jewish immigrant family in their struggle for survival against the background of post-World War ? America.This thesis employs cultural memory theories to analyze the memory writing in The Gravedigger's Daughter.Through analyzing the sources and contents of"communicative memory" and "cultural memory" of three characters representing three generations of Jewish immigrants,it demonstrates that due to loss,preservation or retrieval of memories,each of them resorts to different ways to re-build or search for his or her identity in the land of America,which eventually yields different outcomes.Moreover,based on the distinction and interaction between "functional memory" and "storage memory",this paper interprets various kinds of collective memories which are reflected and challenged in the novel by the writer concerning the Holocaust,Jewish American immigrants and the image of America in World War II.In addition,three kinds of media of memory are discussed in this paper including writing,image and place,whose roles in preserving or evoking one's memories are evaluated.It reveals that image plays a more dynamic role than writing in recording and reawakening one's innermost memories,and that the cemetery-a place for memory-symbolizes the double termination of one's physical and spiritual memories in this novel.Finally,this study reveals the significance of this novel to the writer and her ambition to revise relevant historical,social and cultural memories through this literary text about memory at multiple levels.