The dialectics of memory and oblivion: Marguerite Duras' Hiroshima mon amour

Hiroshima mon amour depicts tight relations between memory and oblivion. The novel 's love story takes place in France 's collective memory, but it also refers to the individual memory of a woman evoking past events. Consequently, the encounter with another human being (a man) allows her to confront her personal trauma. This confrontation can be perceived as a quest for one 's own identity and history, i.e. the alienation history of an individual who - due to an unhappy love affair - cannot escape either the past or oblivion. The permeation of these two notions is emphasised by diverse time perspectives which overlap each other, allowing for an intertextual reading of Duras ' script. Hence, whereas the past revives the memory of painful events to which the writer constantly returns, oblivion can be considered a positive value, which - despite its connection to existential void - opens up a possibility of a new life and invites thoughts concerning a promising future.