Memory of the Sea

Abstract

This article discusses Katja Kettu’s novel The Midwife in the context of the cultural memory of the World War II in the high north. The Midwife is a Finnish historical novel which depicts events during the war in Pechenga, situated on the shores of the Arctic Ocean. The article primarily analyses the role of the Arctic Ocean and the rich water imagery in the novel. The major claim of the article is that the arctic perspective and the symbolism of water are crucial elements in constructing the critical narrative of war. Additionally, it contends that the novel breaks away from the prevailing national perspective of Finnish war literature and introduces a fresh narrative on the Arctic War. The analysis will show that in The Midwife, the tropes of arctic waters serve as instruments to depict the silenced themes of the war. The theoretical tools of the analysis are based on interdisciplinary memory culture studies, and on research of the representations of water. The article aims to provide tools to understand the role of literature in the construction and deconstruction processes of national discourses and memories concerning the traces of the war in the multicultural arctic areas.