Memory in Nathalie Sarraute's Childhood

Abstract

Childhood narrative by Nathalie Sarraute, one of the forerunners of the New Novel, is a two-voice autobiography. Published in 1983, the author has brought a new dimension to the autobiography genre. Sarraute born Nathalie Tcherniak describes her childhood in France and Russia between the ages of 6 and 12. The memories, which are not in chronological order, are voiced from a child's point of view. She talks about her inner life, her primary school experiences, her parents' separation, and her life in Paris. The second voice is the voice of the adult narrator's conscience. It tries to compensate for the inconsistencies of memory flaws through the connections of memories and is the guarantor of the rightness of doubtful words. The female narrator and her inner voice continue to keep the perceptions hidden in the childhood alive with words. In this current work, the issues of memory, the perception of time, and people's roles in and out of the family in the memories will be examined, and the spread of the memories within a specific time will be discussed. Despite the age difference between the child and the adult, the narrator expresses her impressions of her childhood. How close is the adult narrator to the child? Who is actually mentioned in the memories? Based on the role of memory, these issues will be answered by using Genette's narratological method.