Exploring spatial narratives: A study of local memoirs from small towns in the Warsaw region
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This article investigates how spatial structuring in local memoirs from small towns in the Warsaw region functions as a rhetorical strategy of memory. By analysing how authors organise their narratives around places, use ekphrasis to engage materiality, and revisit locations of personal significance, the study aims to demonstrate how individual memory is shaped and structured through space. The article further explores the tension between past and present in these memoirs, examining whether spatial narratives reinforce continuity or emphasise rupture in personal and collective memory. By embedding memory in physical spaces, the authors reinforce identity, bridge past and present, and pass down knowledge to future generations. Through a detailed analysis of spatial narratives, this article clarifies how memory functions not only as personal recollection but as a strategy for survival and intergenerational transmission.
Source: Res Rhetorica
DOI: 10.29107/rr2025.1.8
Author: Agnieszka Szurek
Institution: University of Warsaw
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W6889841429
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