Countering Erasure in Syrian Literary Writing

Paper Presentation ‘Countering Erasure in Syrian Literary Writing’

In this paper, Brigitte Herremans examines how Syrian literary texts can ‘presence’ or reverse the invisibilization of experiences of harm. Since the 2011 uprising, many Syrian writers have produced new forms of literary writing that are largely of the diaspora while being strongly rooted in Syria. These writings build on a tradition of dissent and simultaneously entail a new trend in Syrian literature towards the construction of a narrative memory of experiences of harm. On the basis of empirical research conducted with Syrian writers of different literary genres, I will argue that Syrian writers are opening spaces for the acknowledgement of injustices and for memorialization. While largely shying away from historical representations and forensic truth-telling, they counter the erasure of experiences of harm by bringing to bear multi-layered narratives that engage the reader in an ethical engagement, and thus enter into the world where these lived experiences take place.