Forgetting, Memory, and Narrative Disruption in Lance Olsen’s Theories of Forgetting

Abstract

Abstract

The current study critically examines Lance Olsen’s Theories of Forgetting (2014) by focusing on how forgetting operates not only as a thematic concern but as an essential narrative strategy. In contemporary postmodern fiction, memory uncertainty and narrative fragmentation challenge conventional linear storytelling. They reflect wider anxieties surrounding identity and historical truth. The study argues that Olsen structurally introduces forgetting through textual gaps and disordered chronology to embody the weak nature of memory. The study aims to explore how narrative strategies of forgetting destabilize meaning and engage the reader in reconstructive interpretation. The article applies a qualitative discourse analysis and textual close reading method that is grounded in postmodern narrative theory (Hutcheon, McHale) and memory studies (Ricoeur, Huyssen). The findings reveal that forgetting in the novel disrupts chronology, fragments identity, and makes language itself unstable. This contributes to broader discussions of postmodern fiction and the cultural function of memory.