Foundation Jewish Contemporary Documentation Center (CDEC)

Irina Talevska

Irina Talevska is teaching assistant of Italian Literature at the Faculty of Philology in Skopje, Macedonia. Her Ph.D. thesis frames the concepts of Memory, Subject and Narration in the orbit of the Sovereign Power. It brings to light two divergent hypothesis: the first one is related to memory – uttered by the narrative Subject ̶ as crucial mean of subversion necessary to withstand the concrete manifestations and transformations of the Sovereign Power which we can witness in contemporary societies. The second hypothesis regards the defeat of memory: if we accept Agamben's thesis of the modernity as a paradigm of the concentration camp, than, questioning the reasons of such development of societies, we must observe the possibility that they failed to integrate the knowledge transferred by the holocaust authors.

The focal point of the research are four works by Primo Levi as he offers a unique example of the Italian 'mnemonic' writing and gives the narration a sober, precise and rational dimension. In this sense, the thesis has also the purpose of investigating multiple aspects of memory and to place the memory of the 'extreme hell' in contemporary context.

During the Research at Centro di documentazione ebraica contemporanea in Milan, she will consult the archival material of the Centre, in particular, the units which tackle the question of memory of the trauma; monograph studies dedicated to Primo Levi, bibliographical units related to narration and memory regarding Primo Levi's works, conference proceedings related to Holocaust memory, as well as articles and interviews with the author himself.