La représentation du temps de l´immigration dans Silences, Addolorata et Déjà l'agonie de Marco Micone

Abstract

Works by immigrant writers have been analyzed on the basis of their linguistic aspects and their ways of defining identity. This article deals with another dimension of immigration, namely the temporal experiences of Italian immigrants in Canada dramatized by Marco Micone in Silences (2004), a second version of Gens du silence (1982), Addolorata (1984), and Déjà l’agonie (1988). Largely autobiographical in nature, Micone’s trilogy deals with the experiences of first-generation Italian immigrants following World War II. Left to face a difficult situation, these men and women from rural areas share certain experiences common to first-generation immigrants: the need to find continuity with their pre-immigration past; an often traumatic process; feeling that everyday life is marked by circular time; being stuck in an eternal present, as though time were suspended and perhaps even broken. Their situation modifies — and often inhibits — their temporal perspectives and their ability to project into the future. Such experiences can be read through the words, attitudes, and actions of characters in relation to their integration, and can be seen through a series of episodes from the past (memories the characters cannot avoid) that intrude into present-time, disrupting the chronological order of events. In this article, García Martínez analyzes problematic temporalities mainly through the scope of psychoanalytical studies and through the lens of psychotherapy.