Truthful Reminiscences: an Analysis of Documenting Past in Atonement

History and memory equate, in declaration of having access to past, authentically, in the form of narratives; these narratives are appropriated by socio-cultural paradigms. However, their similitude is a convoluted one, since the inevitable subjectivity of these disciplines jeopardizes transmission of unauthentic and distorted information. In the contemporary age, there has been an inclination to favor memory over history; this shift of favor is based on the modern era’s affirmation of retrieving the rights of other discursive disciplines in presentation of an authentic and truthful picture of past. In the struggle to reconstruct past, history and memory undergo an obstinate task, as both of these discourses are the result of egocentric interpretations of their narrators, determined by power relations. This study attempts to investigate diverse patterns of attaining truth, by past reminiscences, in 'Atonement' (2001)by Ian McEwan, in order to suggest that the ultimate version of truth is the missing component of even the most seemingly accurate historical or memorial narratives

Keywords:

History , Authenticity , Subjective memory , Truth