Memory, collective memory, Czech literature, Mexican literature

The chapter presents two different ways of employing the memory in the literary analysis and the creative process itself. Given that the authors take as reference their home countries and its contexts, they opt for different methods. In the first part, the deductive method is used to describe the state of the art of the Czech literary criticism. At the beginning, the author presents the events that have permeated the Czech collective memory of the 20th century. He suggests understanding the collective memory as a stratified and discontinuous phenomenon that has been grafted into the literature quite recently. According to him, the “theory of trauma” best represents the writings where the World Wars or the Sovietic influence on the Czech nation are remembered. The second half of the chapter is dedicated to the analysis of Octavio Paz´ use of memory in his poem “Nocturno de San Ildefonso” (1969-1971). The perspective differs from the foregoing because it follows on from a specific writing and then expands towards a broader context with an important historical meaning for Mexico City. Regarding that the writing analyzed is a poem, the author takes into consideration that this particular use of memory is unlike the other literary genres and suggests that the poet made use of his emotional memory complemented with an intelectual reflection. In the final part it is argued that the experience and the memories are key elements to the composition.