Photography and Archive Fever in Richard Kalinoski’s Beast on the Moon (1995)

Drawing from critics such as Jacques Derrida, Janine Altounian, and Melanie Klein, this essay examines the close links between photography, family, and traumatic suffering in their relation with the notions of “archive”, “survivance” (as opposed to “survival”), “reparation”, and “re-membrance”. The...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Laurence Petit
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte" 2017-12-01
Series:Sillages Critiques
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/5271
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832578560628359168
author Laurence Petit
author_facet Laurence Petit
author_sort Laurence Petit
collection DOAJ
description Drawing from critics such as Jacques Derrida, Janine Altounian, and Melanie Klein, this essay examines the close links between photography, family, and traumatic suffering in their relation with the notions of “archive”, “survivance” (as opposed to “survival”), “reparation”, and “re-membrance”. The play, which addresses the 1915 Armenian genocide, revolves around an object which, along with an old coat, works as the one and only familial “archive”, namely a central family photograph whose heads were actually cut out by Aram Tomasian after he witnessed the terrible massacre of his entire Armenian family and fled to America. The family portrait, which in the course of the play suffers both a decapitation and an indirect crucifixion but somehow manages to survive, becomes the repository not just of individual destinies – or of one individual’s destiny – but of the diasporic fate of a whole people, the Armenians.
format Article
id doaj-art-a5656c5451ed44b297cecb57c147478b
institution Kabale University
issn 1272-3819
1969-6302
language English
publishDate 2017-12-01
publisher Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"
record_format Article
series Sillages Critiques
spelling doaj-art-a5656c5451ed44b297cecb57c147478b2025-01-30T13:46:55ZengCentre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"Sillages Critiques1272-38191969-63022017-12-012310.4000/sillagescritiques.5271Photography and Archive Fever in Richard Kalinoski’s Beast on the Moon (1995)Laurence PetitDrawing from critics such as Jacques Derrida, Janine Altounian, and Melanie Klein, this essay examines the close links between photography, family, and traumatic suffering in their relation with the notions of “archive”, “survivance” (as opposed to “survival”), “reparation”, and “re-membrance”. The play, which addresses the 1915 Armenian genocide, revolves around an object which, along with an old coat, works as the one and only familial “archive”, namely a central family photograph whose heads were actually cut out by Aram Tomasian after he witnessed the terrible massacre of his entire Armenian family and fled to America. The family portrait, which in the course of the play suffers both a decapitation and an indirect crucifixion but somehow manages to survive, becomes the repository not just of individual destinies – or of one individual’s destiny – but of the diasporic fate of a whole people, the Armenians.https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/5271photographytraumamemoryarchiveArmenian genocidediaspora
spellingShingle Laurence Petit
Photography and Archive Fever in Richard Kalinoski’s Beast on the Moon (1995)
Sillages Critiques
photography
trauma
memory
archive
Armenian genocide
diaspora
title Photography and Archive Fever in Richard Kalinoski’s Beast on the Moon (1995)
title_full Photography and Archive Fever in Richard Kalinoski’s Beast on the Moon (1995)
title_fullStr Photography and Archive Fever in Richard Kalinoski’s Beast on the Moon (1995)
title_full_unstemmed Photography and Archive Fever in Richard Kalinoski’s Beast on the Moon (1995)
title_short Photography and Archive Fever in Richard Kalinoski’s Beast on the Moon (1995)
title_sort photography and archive fever in richard kalinoski s beast on the moon 1995
topic photography
trauma
memory
archive
Armenian genocide
diaspora
url https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/5271
work_keys_str_mv AT laurencepetit photographyandarchivefeverinrichardkalinoskisbeastonthemoon1995