THE FRAGMENTEDNESS OF MEMORY IN BEAT-LITERATURE
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Abstract
The article examines the fragmented structure of the novels of beatnik writers, and the relationship of the fragment with the processes of memory representation in their novels. The purpose of the study is to trace the Beatniks’ understanding of the fragmentedness of human memory and to determine its artistic functions in their works. The article analyzes the early texts of the Beatniks, such as J. Kerouac’s “On the Road” and W. Burroughs’ “Junkie”, where the fragmented nature of memory is related to the authors’ autobiographies, aesthetic ideas of the Beat Generation and modernist writing. ‘Fragment of memory’ in the early novels of these writers serves as the means of self-knowledge and the way of expressing the subjective authors’ worldviews through the fragmented composition of the texts. The functions of the fragment in W. Burroughs’ “The Naked Lunch” are also revealed. The writer comes close to the comprehending of the fragmentedness in terms of postmodern uncertainty and deconstruction of human consciousness and memory.