Stories that Shape Spatialities: Lieu and Milieu de Mémoire through the Lens of Narrativity

Abstract

This chapter offers an examination of the nexus between space and memory by exploring the concepts of lieu and milieu de mémoire. My aim is to show how, in memory-making processes, these two semiotic configurations are not mutually exclusive, as Pierre Nora argues, but mutually articulated. In the f irst part of the chapter, I will discuss Nora’s definitions, comparing them to Michel de Certeau’s articulation of lieu and espace and through the lens of Algirdas J. Greimas’s model of narrativity. In the second part, I will translate theoretical and methodological reflec- tions into a practical analysis, specifically through an exploration of the case of the Italian concentration camp of Fossoli.