The creation of absence : Georges Perec on Ellis Island

Bibliogr. s. 900-902

This article presents an interpretation of Georges Perec’s "Ellis Island and the People of America" from the perspective of the anthropology of the creative process. While in the centre of this study is the last version of "Récits d’Ellis Island", reprinted in the second volume of his "Oeuvres complètes" (Gallimard, 2017), it reaches out to the earlier album, the film documentary and the essay in pursuit of their interconnections. The aim is, first, to gain insight into the complex creative history of the work as it mutates, combining with media like photography or film, to produce new versions of itself; and second, to for-mulate questions - in the spirit of the artist’s aesthetics - about the key issues of co-authorship (with Robert Bober), signature (as defined by Jacques Derrida), intertextuality and autobiography. Finally, the article argues, a closer look at the intricacies of his creative process allows us to gain a better understanding of the dimensions of memory and politics in Perec’s late work.