Name: Hannah Sneed
Title: Memory and Photography
1. Do I cite properly (MLA style) my three bibliographical sources at the end of my essay?
Y/N
2. Do I use three passages form the book? Y/N
3. Do I put the passages in relation to the whole narrative? Y/N
4. Do I relate them to one of the following artworks? Y/N
Sugimoto?
Clearbout?
Bush?
5. Do I answer the question What is memory? In my essay? Y/N
6. Is my essay 3000 to 4000 words? Y/N
7. Do I add page numbers to my essay? Y/N
Hannah Sneed
Photography
Claudia Salamanca
7 November 2017
Memory and Photography
Austerlitz written by W.G. Sebald has the overlapping idea of memory throughout the
entire novel. This idea of memory is applicable to everyone, especially image makers in the
digital age. Some examples of this everyday life memory could be forgetting your coffee on the
roof of your car on a Monday morning, or hearing a song that brings back memories from your
senior prom. Memory affects everyone on a daily basis sometimes without the person realizing.
“Memory is the most extraordinary phenomenon in the natural world. Our brains are modified
and reorganized by our experiences. Our interactions with the physical world- our sensory
experiences, our perceptions, our actions-change us continuously and determine what we are
later able to perceive, remember, understand and become” (Thompson and Stephen). In the
novel Austerlitz explores this idea of memory particularly in his childhood with his foster
parents. It is throughout the novel that Austerlitz is trying to reconstruct his biography through
the recollection of architecture and photographs. These poignant memories that are brought
upon by architecture is a recoccuring idea throughout the book.There are many different
factors that bring out the memories of Austerlitz, some of these include but are not limited to:
smell, the unconscious mind, memory fragmentation, and photography.
Austerlitz having no prior memory of his biological parents has only memories of his
childhood with his foster parents. However, when his foster parents die he discovers what his
true name is. This is a pivotal point for him, furthermore causing him to go on a relentless
journey to discover his past. Later when Austerlitz is at college studying European Architecture
he suffers from an unpredicted nervous breakdown and decides to withdraw from the
university to continue seeking memories of his biological parents.
In the opening passage the narrartor explains that in the second half of the 1960’s he
travels from England to Belgium. Sometimes for studying purposes but other times just because
he was drawn to the city. However, as he is walking through the city he starts feel uneasy, by
having an enduring headache and the feeling of queasiness brought upon by uneasy thoughts.
He decides to take a break and eventually finds himself at the zoo observing the nocturnal
animal exhibit. Furthermore, he goes on to say that, “Over the years, images of the interior of
the Nocturama have been confused in my mind with my memories of the Salla des pas perdus,
