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Title The Postmodern Museum and the Interdependence of Memory and Representation in Orhan Pamuk’s The Museum of Innocence and Selected Photographs of Ara Guler

Author(s) SAIRA GHAFOOR

Abstract Title: The Postmodern Museum and the Interdependence of Memory and Representation in Orhan Pamuk’s The Museum of Innocence and Selected Photographs of Ara Güler This thesis analyzes both literary and visual narratives including Pamuk’s novel The Museum of Innocence (2008), his physical museum, The Museum of Innocence, and selected photographs of Ara Güler in order to identify the interdependence of memory and representation. This study examines how the selected objects of study portray the fragmented nature of memories. It also analyzes how both the artists i.e. Güler and Pamuk have preserved the memories of Istanbul in their works. Apart from memory and its representation this thesis also examines the shift in the role of museums in the postmodern world by taking the example of Pamuk’s museum, The Museum of Innocence. This study is grounded in the theoretical concepts of two literary and cultural theorists namely Andreas Huyssen and Meike Bal. The method used for the analysis of the novel is textual analysis whereas, for the interpretation of the visual narratives i.e. photographs and the museum, this thesis has made a methodological intervention by triangulating Lacan’s notion of the Gaze with Huyssen, Bal, and Pamuk’s theorization of museums. This research concludes that both the novel and the photos as a medium of re-presentation reconceptualize memory through the artists’ subjective intervention which leads to the fragmented portrayal of the memory. It also identifies that this reconceptualization ultimately preserves memory. Furthermore, it also reveals that in the postmodern age museums, on the one hand, have become sites of cultural authority and on the other hand, play a pivotal role in enhancing consumerism through the commodification of art.

Type Thesis/Dissertation

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Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2023-12-04

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