In this presentation, Hanna Engelmeier would like to discuss some material that she uses to reflect on the relationship between places and memory, and the way this relationship is formed in literature. Last year Georges Perec’s unfinished project Lieux was published in France. Using a permutation table created especially to this end, Perec wanted to visit twelve places in Paris that were linked to his biography over a period of twelve years. The description of the events in real time was to be compared with his memories of them.

The creation of a personal mapping of places that were initially significant only to him could be interpreted as a literary response to the concept of “lieux de mémoire” developed by Pierre Nora. At the same time, however, Lieux could be seen as an attempt to make the “infra-ordinary” (also a concept from Perec) effective in spatial and historical terms, thus saving it from disappearance or even obsolescence.

In this session of the colloquium, Engelmeier would like to undertake a joint reading of the sources for these questions. At the beginning, Engelmeier will briefly present my project and explain how she wants to work with Perec, or start from his work. The focus of the session, however, should be on a joint discussion of the texts (to be circulated in advance).