Memory and the Demand for Legacy

The Killer

This flow traces Berenger’s changing relationship to memory, from grandiose demands for remembrance to the relinquishing of personal identity.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Kingdom as Biography A Kingdom as Biography from "The Killer". A Kingdom as Biography Self Made Monument Berenger imagines that every school, public building, vehicle, and church should preserve his name and image.

A Kingdom as Biography from "The Killer". A Kingdom as Biography Self Made Monument Berenger imagines that every school, public building, vehicle, and church should preserve his name and image.

A Kingdom as Biography Self Made Monument Berenger imagines that every school, public building, vehicle, and church should preserve his name and image. Fear Beneath Grandeur His extravagant memorial plans reveal terror that death will make his life insignificant.

The Limits of Remembrance The Limits of Remembrance from "The Killer". The Limits of Remembrance An Unstable Archive Berenger wonders how long books, libraries, and even the universe can preserve his story.

The Limits of Remembrance from "The Killer". The Limits of Remembrance An Unstable Archive Berenger wonders how long books, libraries, and even the universe can preserve his story.

The Limits of Remembrance An Unstable Archive Berenger wonders how long books, libraries, and even the universe can preserve his story. Memory Cannot Guarantee Survival The imagined audience disappears along with the world that might remember him.

A Life in Fragments A Life in Fragments from "The Killer". A Life in Fragments Competing Accounts The court recalls Berenger as a ruler, a maker, a tyrant, and a man whose ordinary attachments went unnoticed.

A Life in Fragments from "The Killer". A Life in Fragments Competing Accounts The court recalls Berenger as a ruler, a maker, a tyrant, and a man whose ordinary attachments went unnoticed.

A Life in Fragments Competing Accounts The court recalls Berenger as a ruler, a maker, a tyrant, and a man whose ordinary attachments went unnoticed. Unreliable Legacy No single account can restore the whole person or make his past permanent.

The Cat Remembered The Cat Remembered from "The Killer". The Cat Remembered A Small Memory Berenger recalls a domestic cat with unusual tenderness, describing its habits, fear, and death.

The Cat Remembered from "The Killer". The Cat Remembered A Small Memory Berenger recalls a domestic cat with unusual tenderness, describing its habits, fear, and death.

The Cat Remembered A Small Memory Berenger recalls a domestic cat with unusual tenderness, describing its habits, fear, and death. Personal Loss The intimate memory briefly replaces public monuments with grief for one vulnerable creature.

Memory Released Memory Released from "The Killer". Memory Released Removing the Burden Queen Marguerite urges Berenger to drop the kingdom and the images that bind him to an old self.

Memory Released from "The Killer". Memory Released Removing the Burden Queen Marguerite urges Berenger to drop the kingdom and the images that bind him to an old self.

Memory Released Removing the Burden Queen Marguerite urges Berenger to drop the kingdom and the images that bind him to an old self. What Remains His identity dissolves with the world around him, leaving no durable monument beyond the play’s fading light.

When Berenger begins to fear being forgotten

After the King imagines future generations

During the court’s recollections of his reign

Late in the King’s recollection

During Queen Marguerite’s final guidance