In the Shadow of Mnemosyne: The Poetics of Debt in Fiction and Testimony

This essay aims to thematize the poetic and cultural-historical image of debt, embodied as memorial discourse in both fictional and nonfictional literature. The poetics of debt are forged within the melting pot of mythic and historical images, political and cultural aspects, and poetic and testimonial temporalities - but always sheltered in the shadow of Mnemosyne. Thus, memory remains a permanent umbrella for the different faces of debt. Debt is interrogated within the arc of authors Danilo Kis and Zef Pllumi, two leading literary and cultural personalities in 20th -century south-eastern Europe. Their views provide a geopoetic and cultural background for a theoretical discussion of literary and cultural facets of debt. It is argued that because debt entails memory, obligation, and care for others, it is a distinguishing mark of the human psyche. The theorizing prelude will be followed by literary and confessional pieces of authors but, in the end, a theorizing observation on the subject will take place.