CONCEPT MEMORY IN GERMAN-SPEAKING CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT: MULTINATIONAL ASPECT

Abstract

The article deals with the concept MEMORY in the German-speaking cultural environment. The inquiry is grounded on the novel “Vielleicht Esther” (“Maybe Esther”) by Katja Petrowskaja, a contemporary German writer of Ukrainian- Jewish origin. The abstract foregrounds the construction of the multinational aspect of the concept MEMORY. The presented study is relevant due to the general tendency in contemporary cognitive-linguistic and cultural studies to analyze the specific features of various conceptual worldviews, as well as to look over at the concepts’ construction, functions, and interactions between them. The article looks at the mechanisms, patterns, and distinctive features of realization of the concept MEMORY influenced by German, (Post)soviet, Ukrainian and Jewish cultures. The finding provides insight on the similar elements existing in the four mentioned conceptual worldviews; and how these traits, by interaction with each other, create a new concept rooted in the novel. An analysis of several conceptual metaphors derived from the novel and explicating the concept MEMORY rooted in it allowed a more detailed study of the images and ideas that underlie the perception and understanding of the concept MEMORY. Analyzing the origin of the images and ideas found leads to the conclusion that some of them are deeply rooted in traditions and history and are unique to specific worldviews. Therefore, we distinguish this merged textual concept as a mental blend. Some of the elements this concept consists of match with the elements from the corresponding concepts in German, (Post)soviet, Ukrainian and Jewish worldviews. However, the concept itself does not fully match with any of these concepts. We also determine which features are common to the concepts in all those mentioned worldviews and which of them are culturally determined. The article also addresses how memory is linked to autobiographical writing because the latter enables us to construct, analyze and interpret some specific memory space. The article can be of great interest to cognitive linguists, as well as to researchers from the area of Literary Studies, or people interested in memory, concepts, or multicultural phenomena.