Forms of presence: experience of time in Inara Verzemnieks' memoir Among the Living and the Dead: A Tale of Exile and Homecoming

• Published in: Prose studies Vol. 43; no. 1; pp. 1 - 16
• Main Author: Ostups, Artis
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 02.01.2022; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Inara Verzemnieks; memoir; philosophy of history; Presence; trauma
• ISSN: 0144-0357; 1743-9426
• DOI: 10.1080/01440357.2023.2206344

This article draws on the presentist strand of contemporary philosophy of history to expand on the idea of the presence of the past, attuning it to the spectral and traumatic approach to history. I take the case of Inara Verzemnieks' memoir Among the Living and the Dead: A Tale of Exile and Homecoming to demonstrate how the experience of the multitemporal present can be accessed by the narrator through three main forms of presence, namely, figurative, affective and real. Presentist philosophy has focused mostly on the real presence of the past, available through concrete objects and places, despite the fact that the non-linear experience of time also includes metaphorical and traumatic tropes that are equally capable of bringing back past realities and constituting our identities. This expanded account of presence is based on Eelco Runia's philosophy of metonymy and creates a dialogue with autobiographical writing.