This article explores the concept of postmemory and its manifestation in Colum McCann’s novel Let the Great World Spin, with a particular focus on the character of Gloria. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Marianne Hirsch and Cathy Caruth, the study examines how traumatic experiences—specifically those related to slavery and racial discrimination—are transmitted across generations not through direct recollection, but through everyday practices, family culture, and societal cues. While Gloria’s mother conveys the trauma of slavery unconsciously, Gloria receives and processes this inherited memory within a context shaped by social change and historical awareness. The article also considers how Gloria’s academic and personal achievements reflect both resilience and the continuing presence of trauma, illustrating the complexity of postmemory in relation to race, gender, and identity. Despite Gloria’s conscious engagement with her past, the lasting effects of trauma persist, revealing the enduring nature of historical wounds.

Postmemory, trauma, intergenerational memory

McCann, Colum. Let the Great World Spin. Random House Trade paperback edition, 2009

Caruth, C. Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. Notes,

Hirsch, Marianne. “The Generation of Postmemory.” Poetics Today, vol. 29, no. 1, 2008, pp. 103–128, https://doi.org/10.1215/03335372-2007-019. С. 125

Singer S. The Slow Demise of Modernism, Aleatory Keepsakes,’70s Trauma and Looking through the Glass Darkly in Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin //Image & Narrative. – 2012. – Т. 13. – №. 4. – С. 206-220. С. 208

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National Museum of African American History and Culture. Slavery and Freedom Documents Collection. URL: https://nmaahc.si.edu/slavery-and-freedom-documents.