The Roots and Soot of Time in Tanja Maljartschuk’s “Forgottenness”

In the previous post, I started examining some of the themes in Tanja Maljartschuk’s Forgottenness. Today, I want to continue that exploration by looking at two specific passages in the novel that detail the passage of time and why we need to think about history and the ways it impacts our present. One of these moments occurs when Lypynskyi decides to give a history lecture in 1905 and the other takes place when the unnamed narrator describes looking at centuries old paintings and the accumulation of materials that gather on the canvas.

When thinking about history and those who have come before, I always think about specific metaphors, for various reasons. One of these metaphors includes thinking about the past and the impact of atrocities of the past on the present as trees and roots. We can prune the tree, remove branches, and even cut it at various points down to the base, but the roots remain underground, still acquiring nourishment from the soil. The taproot remains, deep within the soil, allowing smaller roots to burrow deeper into the soil around it. To remove the sin, one must remove the entire structure, roots and all.

Another way to consider this metaphor is to think about it as the removal of a person from a place. Ernest Gaines’ uses it in one of my favorite literary passages in a section of…