Poetics of objects: memory, affects and intimacy in Cuadernos de infancia by Norah Lange

Abstract

The work Cuadernos de infancia (1937) by the Argentine writer Norah Lange is presented as an exercise in fragmented memory in search of the recovery of the childhood of oneself and others, also evidencing an indeterminate genre that brings it closer to texts such as memoirs, testimonies, novels, autobiography and even autofiction. In this work of memory focused on childhood, it is proposed that objects function as a ‘vehicle of memory’ for the recovery of the past from the present and with a view to the future, which in turn are linked to affection and intimacy. The presence of these objects also makes it possible to establish a relationship with the author’s writing project, marked by the Latin American avant-garde, ultraism and the martinfierrista group.