MEMORY IN MOMENTS: EXPLORING ENDEL TULVING'S THEORY IN ELIF SHAFAK'S 10 MINUTES 38 SECONDS IN THIS STRANGE WORLD

ICSSR Sponsored One Day National Seminar on Literature, War and Memory: Narratives of Trauma and Healing in 20th and 21st Century English Literature 289 MEMORY IN MOMENTS: EXPLORING ENDEL TULVING’S THEORY IN ELIF SHAFAK’S 10 MINUTES 38 SECONDS IN THIS STRANGE WORLD S. Vishnupriya Ph.D. Research Scholar Sri Sarada College for Women (Autonomous) Salem (Tamil Nadu), India [email protected] Dr. S. Ramya Niranjani Research Supervisor, Associate Professor of English Sri Sarada College for Women (Autonomous) Salem (Tamil Nadu), India [email protected] https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17283543 Abstract British literature frequently engages with the theme of memory, portraying how individuals and society recall past events in life. Elif Shafak is a Turkish-British writer who takes memory as the central theme in her works. Her novel, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World (2009), is a poignant exploration of cultural memory and trauma, centring on the life of Tequila Leila, a sex worker in Istanbul who recollects her life’s last moments of ten minutes and thirty-eight seconds. Episodic memory, as defined by Endel Tulving, is a type of long-term memory that enables individuals to recall events from their past. This article delves into Endel Tulving’s theory of episodic memory, using 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World to explore how Leila’s posthumous memories offer a deeply emotional reflection of her life. It intersects the collective memory and cultural identity to show in what ways memories shape personal experiences. Keywords: Elif Shafak, episodic memory, cultural memory, marginalisation, identity Elif Shafak is a Turkish-born British writer, an influential public speaker and a novelist. She is the voice of the voiceless and the powerless women of Turkish society. Her work influences the role of women in society, advocates basic human rights and analyses the complex relationships between individuals and their community. The novel 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World (2009) is a poignant exploration of cultural memory and trauma, centring on the life of Tequila Leila, a sex worker in Istanbul who recalls her fading moments of ten minutes and thirty-eight seconds after her death. The article attempts to study the role of memory in shaping the character's identity and journey throughout the novel. This article explores long-term memory that plays a prominent role in decoding the memories of Leila after her death. Endel Tulving, an Estonian-Canadian psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist, says, “Episodic memory enables a person to remember personally experienced events as such . . . a person to be cautiously aware of an earlier experience in a certain situation at a certain time” (Tulving 67). His theories revolutionised the understanding of how memory works. He introduces the distinction between episodic memory and semantic memory. He also says that “the episodic memory relates to specific events in one's life and functions as a sort of autobiographical reserve” (Tulving 241). This article analyses how the memories of Leila intertwine with cultural identity and collective memory. Furthermore, the article explores the themes of trauma, identity and resistance. This paper also highlights memory as a form of narrative within which the characters in the novel challenge societal stigmatisation. Memory plays an important role in everyone’s life, shaping their identity so that they restore the events of the past, retain the present and respond to the future. It enables an individual to ICSSR Sponsored One Day National Seminar on Literature, War and Memory: Narratives of Trauma and Healing in 20th and 21st Century English Literature 290 construct their narratives to define their sense of self. The memories relevant to culture and identity lie in its ability to preserve the values of tradition and historical consciousness. While analysing personal memory, an individual’s actual memory acts as a foundational base of identity. This correlates their past experiences into a narrative progressing their influencing choices, relationships and behaviour. As a reflection of memory, “The representation of memory in the mode of fiction can take liberties in the depiction of the manifold linkages . . . interlaces visible which are difficult to access in reality” (Milevski and Wetenkamp 199). In 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, Shafak deals with themes such as family, childhood, trauma and resilience. The novel begins with Leila’s death, whose active memories last for ten minutes and thirty-eight seconds. The novel brings out the terrible state of Tequila Leila and the people who shaped her life in ten minutes and thirty-eight seconds of her memories. The structure of the novel is divided into three parts namely, The Mind, The Body and The Soul and the present article focuses on ‘THE MIND’ (Shafak 12). According to a neuroscientific study, the brain’s activity continues for a short span of time posthumously. In recent studies, researchers have explored how the brain may remain active during an unconscious state. “It hypothesised that the brain may generate a memory replay within this ‘unconscious’ phase with an increase in oscillatory activity” (Vicente et al., Par. 1). Shafak uses this idea as the foundation for her narrative, where each minute is a journey into Tequila’s memories, exploring the fragments of her life. The first memory is her childhood, which revolves around the taste of “salt” (Shafak 13). Her memories bring her back to Van, her hometown in Eastern Turkey. Shafak brings out the rigid social and familial structures that suppress even Leila’s ordinary dreams. Leila's father, Haroun, embodies traditional and authoritarian masculinity, and by imposing rigid social norms, he controls the other women characters in the household. Binnaz Leila's biological mother undergoes systematic silence, which illustrates how patriarchy stifles women's voices. Leila grows in the care of Haroun's first wife, Suzan, as Haroun convinces Binnaz by saying, “Let Suzan raise her. . . will make more children . . . What difference does that make? Suzan can be Mummy. You’ll be Auntie” (Shafak 23-24), which is a clear example of how women are objectified in this society. Binnaz's feelings of inadequacy, guilt and despair reflect in her decision to give her child to Suzan. Her experiences of emotional neglect, rejection and trauma ruin her mental health, making her feel that she is incapable of being the mother her child needs. The deep love Binnaz has for her child and her overwhelming fear that her presence will only cause harm or hardship make her feel sad. This leads her to think that giving the child to Suzan, whom she sees as more capable and stable, is an act of love, even if it breaks her heart. Yet, beneath the pain and guilt, there is a flicker of hope that by making this choice, she is giving her child the chance of a better life. In the second minute, Tequila recalls “two contrasting tastes: lemon and sugar” (Shafak 31). Her stepmother, Suzan, plays a pivotal role in her early life by offering her a glimpse of freedom and individuality amidst the oppressive patriarchal structure. She is more compassionate than Haroun, offering Leila emotional support and a sense of acceptance. Suzan becomes a different person when it is just the two of them, as she allows Leila “to unbraid, comb and braid her henna-red hair, to slather vanishing cream on her wrinkled face, and to apply petroleum jelly mixed with coal dust to her eyelashes to darken them” (Shafak 34). Through the character of Suzan, Shafak explores how women are supposed to hide their real nature in an oppressive familial environment. In the third minute, Leila gets the smell of “cardamom coffee—strong, intense, dark . . . on September 1967. A dead-end street down by the harbour” (Shafak 45). She escapes to Istanbul at age seventeen with “five lira and twenty Kurush” (Shafak 52). Shafak highlights “The first ICSSR Sponsored One Day National Seminar on Literature, War and Memory: Narratives of Trauma and Healing in 20th and 21st Century English Literature 291 months on this street had been so dark, the days like a rope mooring her to despair, that several times she had considered suicide. A fast, quiet death - it could be done: Back then, every detail had unsettled her; every sound had been a thunderclap to her ears” (Shafak 53). The fourth minute is the most painful memory of Leila’s life, which brings “the smell and taste of watermelon” (Shafak 60). It is about how her family goes to the nearby fishing town on the southeast coast and how she gets manipulated and misused by her uncle. Leila’s life gets twisted when she encounters a helpless night with her uncle. This is the tragic event that pushes her to a miserable destiny. As a six-year-old child, she feels suppressive by her uncle’s age and authority. She feels “confused, embarrassed” (Shafak 66). Her instinctive thought says that it is wrong and everything is her fault. Her uncle points out that she must not tell anyone about this incident to prove her trustworthiness to him. Days later, Leila feels sick and shouts, “‘Go away’. . . ‘Uncle, go’” (Shafak 70). The Lady Pharmacist says that she is hallucinating and she will be fine after the injection. This demonstrates how, as a child, she is unable to respond to the abuse as a result of her underdeveloped psychological stage, where she does not understand fear, loyalty, or the mistaken sense of duty. It highlights the moral and psychological challenges that kids in abusive homes face. Leila in the fifth minute recalls the “taste and smell of spiced goat stew—cumin, fennel seeds, cloves, onions and tomatoes, tail fat and goat's meat” (Shafak 74). Haroun is on cloud nine when Binnaz gives birth to Tarkan, as this fulfils his sense of stigmatisation of having male heirs. Though Binnaz tells Leila that she is her mother, Leila feels like she may not trust her, as the family considers Binnaz mentally unstable. Binnaz says that “from now on, we’ll be inseparable -you, me and the baby…we’ll tell your brother that I am your mother, not Suzan.” (Shafak 76). Leila is unhappy with secrets and discovers that her aunt [Binnaz] is not mentally ill but a victim of illness in the frame of society. Meanwhile, Tarkan is a “frail child with poor muscle tone” (Shafak 81), affected with Down’s syndrome, who cannot “live long” (Shafak 81). During her adolescence, Leila had a habit of following the world news and her passion for dance and other worldly things bloomed. She starts to admire actresses and models like Rita Hayworth, Elvis Presley, and Sophia Loren. Her curiosity towards singing contests, beauty pageants and sports competitions paved the way to reading Hayat magazine. On seeing this her father assigns a set of rules that she must not read any publication and insists her that “music was haram [sin]” (Shafak 86). Shafak brings out how a traditional family set-up restricts women and expects them to be modest in every way possible. In the sixth minute, she feels “the smell of a wood-burning on June 2, 1963” (Shafak 89). She remembers her family dinner, where she feels a sense of annoyance and orders the waiter to bring the samovar [tea] again and again. The waiter’s face is annoyingly passive and she recognises a familiar state of powerlessness that she experiences in her uncle's authority. She relieves a thought of powerlessness through the abuse by showing her authority on the waiter. This incident creates distress in Leila’s heart and even her family rejects her by not analysing why she behaves in such a way. in a state where they must stand up and support their daughter. She clearly understands that her father supports his brother more than considering her problem, which is not even said to anyone. Shafak explores, “Never in her life had she felt as lonely as she did now” (Shafak 93). In the seventh minute, she feels “the taste of soil-dry, chalky, bitter” (Shafak 99), which demonstrates the rejection she faced from her family and her self-guilt. She applies a pile of lipstick generously from her mother’s cupboard and starts to look at her face in the mirror to see whether she is happy or not. Soon, the image evaporates as her father sees her. He wants his girl to be the epitome of moral codes, but when he visualises moral decay that he never wishes to see in his own family, he asks her, “Look at yourself, are you my daughter? . . . I can't believe ICSSR Sponsored One Day National Seminar on Literature, War and Memory: Narratives of Trauma and Healing in 20th and 21st Century English Literature 292 you behave like a . . . whore! Is that what you want to become in the end? A damned whore?” (Shafak 102). He arranges a marriage for her to keep her under control, but the family comes to know about her miscarriage, which she does not know what she is undergoing, as she is only seventeen years old. When Leila’s father discusses this with her uncle, he points out her friend Sinan. Leila voices out against the oppressive circumstance that “Uncle is Lying!” (Shafak 108). She even questions her father that “Why don’t you believe me—your own daughter?” (Shafak 108). Leila thinks about how, in 1963, towards the end of November, Tarkan gets sick and dies. She leaves to Istanbul on the first day, she thinks that this will create a new path of freedom and give her a new identity. Shafak describes her inner voice and shows how her desire is destroyed as follows: “She thought she could handle Istanbul, beat the megalopolis at its own game. Yet she was no David; and Istanbul, no Goliath. There was no one praying for her to succeed, no one she could turn to if she didn’t.” (Shafak 112). An unknown man came forward to help her and promises her to offer food and shelter in his aunt’s house but the same man and woman sell her in the streets of a brothel. Leila finds that, “Istanbul was not a city of opportunities, but a city of scars” (Shafak 114). Days later, when her mind settles down, she tries to call her parents in Van but they reject her by saying, “you’ve brought us shame” (Shafak 115). Her parents also inform her not to call them anymore, which makes her accept her fate. In the eighth minute, she recalls the “smell of sulphuric acid. March 1966” (Shafak 122). In the streets of the brothel, she meets a strange client who is mentally unstable, saying that “spies are watching us” (Shafak 123). He attacks her with sulphuric acid that burns her body. Leila observes, “Depression was common among the women on the streets, tearing into their souls as fire tears into wood. No one used the word though. Miserable, was what they said. . . . The food is miserable. The payment is miserable. My feet hurt, these shoes are miserable” (Shafak 125). In the ninth minute, her memories slow down as fragments in her “head in an ecstatic dance, like passing bees” (Shafak 132). She sees D/Ali, one of her customers, as a non-aggressive man who talks to her rather than indulging in pleasures. In the tenth minute, she feels the taste of her “favourite street food: deep-fried mussels— flour, egg yolks, bicarbonate of soda” (Shafak 146). Leila knows that a prostitute will not be able to have a man by her side and that this relationship will not last long. She moves on from D/Ali because she is afraid of trusting people she cannot trust. She belives, “it's a serious thing to believe in someone… You can't just say it like that. It's a big commitment, to believe” (Shafak 127). D/Ali confesses his intentions by saying that “I want you to marry me” (Shafak 151). Leila, in ten minutes and twenty seconds, thinks of “a wedding cake—three-tiered, all white, layered with buttercream icing” (Shafak 158). D/Ali pays Bitter Ma a hefty sum of amount to get Leila out of the streets of the brothel. He marries her, and their marriage makes him lose all his family fortune. When both of them take part in the International Workers' Day procession. In ten minutes and thirty seconds, she recalls the “taste of single malt Whisky” (Shafak 167). Once again, the life of Leila comes into a miserable state as D/Ali is no more. Bitter Ma calls Leila a few days later to meet a client at the Intercontinental hotel. Leila later accepts the offer and goes to the hotel, but she returns right away and meets two odd men in a silver Mercedes, who belong to a Protestant group. They strangle her to death to purify Istanbul as a whole. In the remaining eight seconds, she recalls the “taste of home-made strawberry cake” (Shafak 178). Leila remembers, “Sabotage Sinan, Nostalgia Nalan, Jameelah, Zaynab 122, and Hollywood Humeyra” (Shafak 179). She considers that she is lucky to have such friends for a lifetime. Shafak metaphorically compares the comparison as follows: ICSSR Sponsored One Day National Seminar on Literature, War and Memory: Narratives of Trauma and Healing in 20th and 21st Century English Literature 293 She had often thought five was a special number. The Torah contained five books. Jesus had suffered five fatal wounds. Islam has five pillars of faith. King David had killed Goliath with five pebbles. In Buddhism there were five paths, while Shiva revealed five faces, looking out in five different directions…Human perception depended on five basic senses: hearing, Sight, touch, smell, taste. (Shafak 179) It is on her birthday she opens up to her friends and says that they are her “safety net” (Shafak 180). In all her struggles, they stand with her as support. Shafak writes, “She would still find the strength to hold herself up, knowing that her friends, with their very presence, would come with ointment for her scrapes and bruises” (Shafak 180). All her memories get “dissolved into a wall of fog, thick as sorrow, the very last thing she saw in her mind was the bright pink birthday cake” (Shafak 181). This paper concludes by illustrating how Shafak uses episodic memory in her novel through Leila, who recalls specific past experiences which are rich in sensory emotions. References Milevski, Urania, and Lena Wetenkamp. "Introduction: Relations between Literary Theory and Memory Studies." Journal of Literary Theory, vol. 16, no. 2, Aug. 2022, pp. 197–212. https://doi.org/10.1515/jlt-2022-2022. Tulving, Endel. "What Is Episodic Memory?" Current Directions in Psychological Science, vol. 2, no. 3, 1993, pp. 67–70. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.ep10770899. Shafak, Elif. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World. Penguin Random House, 2021. 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