- “If the story ended there, I could feel a small measure of comfort. I could hold on to this instant of possibility” Hartman 153. In The Dead Book, this nameless girl was given a moment of reprieve from her anonymous death; while her name remains unwritten, her life is recognized in her death. She is not erased; she is not forgotten. Hartman, through the court records and the surgeon’s journals and the official ledgers, has immortalized her in literature, creating her own revisionist history.
- “Given the condition in which we find them, the only certainty is that we will lose them again, that they will explore or elude our grasp or collapse under the pressure of inquiry. This is the only fact about Venus of which we can be sure” Hartman 6. While Hartman takes the time and effort to immortalize this girl in her writing, how can she ensure that this writing, just as the originals, does not go unnoticed or cast off as unimportant? How is it possible to overcome the trials of time passing on, as those eras recently passed are occluded by more and more? These questions dissuade Hartman, and make her question the extent to which her work can bring back the facts of the lost sources. Realistically, her work will be lost to time; whether it is uncovered sometime in the future is, sadly, unknown.
- In regards to “critical fabulation”, there is inherent value in providing the connections between factual texts; it allows the curator and those reading the work a nuanced and holistic understanding of the event or issue. To give space to a voice that was previously omitted or overwritten is a morally correct action. However, I would argue that the use of “critical fabulation” should depend on the sphere in which the text is operating. For example, in a purely academic setting, not one focused on hypotheticals or an imaginative subtext, this could manipulate the information, and remove the subjectivity of connection. To redefine or re-organize information always has its risks and critiques–most valid at that. But, the perspective gained through a revisionist and curated work is valuable.
