Authoring War Memories: War Memoir Writing and Testimonial Theatre Performances

Andrea Roxana Bellot

doi:10.18778/2353-6098.6.03

Authors

Andrea Roxana Bellot Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona, Spain https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0561-2132

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2353-6098.6.03

Keywords:

war memories, witness literature, theatre of testimony, re-enacting war experiences, trauma, autobiographical writing, war memoirs, self-representation

Abstract

This paper will discuss aspects concerning authorship, memory, and war representation, as well as trauma and healing. In order to do so, I will explore the writing of war memoirs and/or the re-enactment of war experiences on the stage as two ways of expressing and coping with war trauma. In both cases, the concept of the author, a war veteran as first-person narrator or self-performer, is central to the representation of the traumatic memories of war. It is precisely through this interaction between the author, as a legitimate witness, and source of authentic and reliable information, that the readership/audience connects emotionally with the experience of the combatants and can empathise with their situation. A theoretical conceptualisation of war memoir writing, and testimonial theatre will be illustrated with specific examples of texts connected with the Falklands War (UK-Argentina, 1982). The dominant perspective of the reflection are veterans’ stories.

Author Biography

Andrea Roxana Bellot, Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona, Spain

Andrea Roxana Bellot teaches English literature and cultural studies at the Department of English and German Studies, Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona, Spain. Her research interests focus on the cultural and literary representation of war. Her main publications include: “The Faces of the Enemy: The Representation of the ‘Other’ in the Media Discourse of the Falklands War Anniversary” (Journal of War & Culture Studies, 2018) and “‘During a period of total despair, I picked up a pen’: Exploring Trauma, Writing and Healing in A Soldier’s Song, Ken Lukowiak’s Falklands War Recollections” (Close Encounters in War Journal, 2020).

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