In Memory of Memory

Winner of 2023 Berman Literature Prize

2023 International Booker Prize Shortlist

Originally published in Russian by Novoe Izdatelstvo as Памяти памяти. Published in arrangement with Suhrkamp Verlag, 2018

Translated by Sasha Dugdale

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Maria Stepanova’s unique portrait of a family is imbued with rare intellectual curiosity & a wonderfully soft-spoken, poetic voice. 

The story of a seemingly ordinary Jewish family that somehow managed to survive the myriad persecutions & repressions of the last century. Following the death of her aunt, Maria Stepanova discovers a withered repository of a century of life in Russia: faded photographs, old postcards, letters, diaries, & heaps of souvenirs. In Memory of Memory combines these items with a vast panorama of ideas & personalities to offer a bold new exploration of cultural & personal memory. 

In dialogue with writers like Roland Barthes, W. G. Sebald, Susan Sontag, & Osip Mandelstam, In Memory of Memory is imbued with rare intellectual curiosity & a wonderfully soft-spoken, poetic voice. Dipping into various forms — essay, fiction, memoir, travelogue, & historical documents — Stepanova assembles a vast panorama of ideas & personalities, offering an entirely new & bold exploration of cultural & personal memory.

"The past speaks with a multitude of voices & working with it is a collective process."  — Maria Stepanova, International Booker Prize interview, 2021

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Maria Stepanova is a Russian poet, novelist, & journalist. She is the current editor of Colta.ru, an online publication specializing in arts & culture. In 2005, she won the prestigious Andrei Bely Prize for poetry.