The Rememberer

Last updated

"The Rememberer" is a short story by Aimee Bender, first published in fall 1997 issue of the Missouri Review. Later it was published in August 1998, in her anthology, The Girl in the Flammable Skirt.

Contents

The short story illustrates the narrator, Annie informing the reader of her lover, Ben, who is, as she says "experiencing reverse evolution." As Ben gets closer to becoming a single-cell organism, Annie reaches her limits. She decides to free Ben into the ocean. The story ends with her forever remembering her lover, hoping that one day he'll come back.

Plot summary

"The Rememberer" opens with two characters, Annie, the narrator and her lover, Ben. She introduces the narrative telling the reader that Ben is re-tracing steps in evolution, first turning into an ape and later into a sea turtle.

As the narrative progresses, Annie reminisces on the last days Ben was human. Ben was an intelligent and somber man, one of the reasons Annie fell in love with him as she said "We'd sit together and be sad and think about being sad and sometimes discuss sadness." She recalls that Ben had once told her that they think too much and unknowingly leave emotion aside. "We're all getting too smart. Our brains are just getting bigger and bigger, and the world dries up and dies when there's too much thought and not enough heart." On his last night of human, Annie and Ben make love, and Annie reassures him by whispering into his ear, "see, we're not thinking...we're not thinking at all." Annie wakes up next morning, discovering that Ben has shifted to an ape . As a caring and loving woman Annie takes the time to care for ape Ben.

After Ben has turned into a sea turtle, Annie returns from work one day and discovers that he has again shifted, now into a salamander in the baking pan. Realizing she cannot take any more of this, Annie decides to let Ben go. She releases Ben the salamander into the ocean, hoping that one day Ben will rise from the shore, as the man "who has been to history and back." In the end, she must wait and remember, as she says, "it is my job to remember."

Characters

Annie

The narrator of the story, Annie is Ben's lover and by-stander in his devolution. As Ben comments in the narrative, he and Annie "think far too much." She mostly concentrates on other things and lacks imagination. For example, when Annie and Ben have sex for the first time, she leaves the lights on and "concentrated really hard on letting go." Even though Annie does "over-think," she still deeply cares for Ben. This is evidenced when she finds Ben as an ape and has the heart to get to know him.

Ben

Ben is Annie’s lover and the man who goes through reverse evolution. During the narrative Ben is morbid, which is probably because Ben, like Annie thinks too much; he realizes this and questions it. As Ben says “We’re all getting too smart. Our brains are just getting bigger and bigger, and the world dries up and dies when there’s too much thought and not enough heart.” A day before Ben goes through his reverse evolution track; he realizes that “there is no space for anything but dreaming.” That maybe people should stop thinking all the time and for a while, follow their heart, and dream. It could be assumed, that Ben tried to stop thinking, but for him it was too much. In the end, it seems the only way Ben can finally stop thinking was to regress into primitive forms, “to stop being human.”

Publication History

"The Rememberer" was first published in the fall 1997 issue of the Missouri Review. The story was later published in 1998 by Doubleday as a part of Bender's collection of short stories The Girl in the Flammable Skirt. In addition, the story was included in the Ann Charter's anthology The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Stories.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anouk Aimée</span> French actress (born 1932)

Nicole Françoise Florence Dreyfus, known professionally as Anouk Aimée or Anouk, is a French film actress who has appeared in 70 films since 1947, having begun her film career at age 14. In her early years, she studied acting and dance besides her regular education. Although the majority of her films were French, she also made films in Spain, Great Britain, Italy and Germany, along with some American productions.

<i>Problem Child 2</i> 1991 film by Brian Levant

Problem Child 2 is a 1991 American black comedy film, and sequel to the 1990 film Problem Child; a continuation of the exploits of Junior, an adopted orphan boy who deliberately wreaks comedic havoc everywhere he goes. John Ritter returns as his adopted father, Ben Healy. Amy Yasbeck, who played Ben's wife, Flo, in the first film, also returns, this time as school nurse Annie Young with a daughter named Trixie who's also a problem child.

Aimee Bender is an American novelist and short story writer, known for her surreal stories and characters. She is a 2011 recipient of the Alex Awards.

<i>Falling Up</i> (poetry collection) 1996 illustrated book of poems by Shel Silverstein

Falling Up is a 1996 poetry collection primarily for children written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein and published by HarperCollins. It is the third poetry collection published by Silverstein, following Where the Sidewalk Ends (1974) and A Light in the Attic (1981), and the final one to be published during his lifetime, as he died just three years after its release. Falling Up was the recipient of the Booklist Editors' Award in 1996.. In 2015, a special edition of the book was published, with 12 new poems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Nights (short story)</span> 1848 short story by Fyodor Dostoevsky

"White Nights" is a short story by Fyodor Dostoevsky, originally published in 1848, early in the writer's career.

<i>The Gargoyle</i> (novel) 2008 novel by Andrew Davidson

The Gargoyle is the debut novel by Andrew Davidson and it was published in 2008.

Robert "Bob" Briggs is a fictional screenwriter living in 1940s Hollywood. His one appearance to date is in Aldous Huxley's dystopian satire Ape and Essence.

<i>Dogs Dialogue</i> 1977 French film

Dog's Dialogue is a 1977 French short crime film directed by Chilean filmmaker Raúl Ruiz. The film contains popular conventions of the photo-romance but also can be viewed as a parody of the Brazilian telenovela or melodrama and pop culture stereotypes.

<i>Black Tickets</i> 1979 short story collection by Jayne Anne Phillips

Black Tickets (1979) is a collection of short stories by American writer Jayne Anne Phillips. The collection was published by Delacorte Books/Seymour Lawrence. In 1980, it won the inaugural Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction.

"Pilot" is the series premiere of the HBO drama television series The Leftovers. It aired in the United States on June 29, 2014. The series is based on Tom Perrotta's novel of the same name. It received mostly positive reviews, with critics praising its themes and the performances of the cast.

<i>The Gaze</i> (novel)

The Gaze is a novel written by Turkish writer Elif Şafak. It was first published in Turkey in 1999. The novel won the Turkish Authors' Association 2000 prize for "best novel". An English translation was published in 2006 by Marion Boyars Publishers.

Swan Song (<i>Once Upon a Time</i>) 11th episode of the 5th season of Once Upon a Time

"Swan Song" is the eleventh episode and midseason finale of the fifth season of the American fantasy drama series Once Upon a Time, which aired on December 6, 2015.

<i>21 Chump Street</i> Musical

21 Chump Street is a fourteen-minute one-act musical with book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is known for creating the Broadway musicals In the Heights, Bring It On the Musical, and Hamilton. The show was based on the second act of episode #457 of This American Life, titled "What I Did For Love" and reported by Robbie Brown, in which a high school student, Justin Laboy, falls in love with an undercover police officer, and is ultimately arrested for selling drugs to the officer in an attempt to impress her. The musical is based on this real event and the writer even chose to keep Justin's name in the show. The title is a satirical reference to the 1987 TV show 21 Jump Street which was about undercover narcotics agents in a high school. The musical premiered in a showcase put on by This American Life, held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on June 7, 2014, and broadcast as episode #528, "The Radio Drama Episode".

<i>Daughter of Tintagel</i>

Daughter of Tintagel is a series of historical fantasy novels by British writer Fay Sampson. It tells the story of the life of Arthurian legend character Morgan le Fay, presented through an oral history narrative from her early childhood to her disappearance. It was originally published as five books between 1989 and 1992, followed by an omnibus edition in 1992. The series was re-published in 2005 as Morgan le Fay.

Annie Denton Cridge (1825–1875) was a UK-born suffragist, socialist, lecturer, and author. She moved to the United States around 1842 during the industrial and Victorian eras. Cridge was an author who wrote primarily about women's rights and spiritualism. In the mid-nineteenth century, spiritualism was considered the only religious group that recognized the equality of women. Ann Braude, in her book, Radical Spirits, defines spiritualism as "a new religious movement aimed at proving the immortality of the soul by establishing communication with the spirits of the dead… It provided an alternative to the established religious order. It held two attractions to thousands of Americans: rebellion against death and rebellion against authority". 

<i>Im Thinking of Ending Things</i> (novel) 2016 novel by Iain Reid

I'm Thinking of Ending Things is the 2016 debut novel of Canadian writer Iain Reid. It was first published in June 2016 in the United States by Simon & Schuster. The book has been described as a psychological thriller and horror fiction, and it is about a young woman who has many doubts about her relationship with her boyfriend. In spite of her reservations, however, she takes a road trip with him to meet his parents.

<i>The Girl in the Flammable Skirt</i> Collection of short stories

The Girl in the Flammable Skirt is a collection of short stories by American novelist Aimee Bender. It was originally published in 1998 by Doubleday, receiving a spot on the New York Times Notable Books the same year. The book follows stories of young women with unlikely dilemmas.

<i>Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic</i> Comedy theatre play by Matt Cox

Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic is a 2015 original play by New York-based playwright Matt Cox. The play is a parody of the Harry Potter book series by J. K. Rowling, but from the perspective of the "Puffs".

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is a 2010 novel by Aimee Bender. The story is about a young girl, Rose Edlestein, who has the ability to taste the emotions of a person through the food they make.

References