For forty years, Lilian Singer has been locked up in a mental hospital by her father. Her release is eventually secured and she walks out to a world unfamiliar to her in every way, seeking the love and affection she never got. Her story is told through a series of three flashbacks that reveal a beautiful and spirited young woman who was anything but insane. Old Lilian comes to terms with her life, quoting Shakespeare, stalking sexy bank tellers, buddying with prostitutes, and ultimately meeting her long-lost love.
In Lilian's Story, Lilian 'claims, "I have never cultivated the burden of memory." This essay extends Lilian's suggestion in order to problematise the "burden of translation" and its significance for recent ideas of history as performance, variously applied by writers from Greg Dening to Judith Butler.' (p.162) Further, 'this essay examines the translation from novel to film, and its significance to ideas of the "re-staging" of history through performance.' (p.164)
In Lilian's Story, Lilian 'claims, "I have never cultivated the burden of memory." This essay extends Lilian's suggestion in order to problematise the "burden of translation" and its significance for recent ideas of history as performance, variously applied by writers from Greg Dening to Judith Butler.' (p.162) Further, 'this essay examines the translation from novel to film, and its significance to ideas of the "re-staging" of history through performance.' (p.164)
