Summoning Pearl Harbor is a mesmerizing display of linguistic force
that redefines remembering. How do words make the past appear? In what
way does the historian summon bygone events? What is this kind of
remembering, and for whom do we recall the dead, or the past?
In this highly original meditation on the past, renowned art historian
Alexander Nemerov delves into what it means to recall a significant
event--Pearl Harbor--and how descriptions of images can summon it back
to life. Beginning with the photo album of a former Japanese kamikaze
pilot, which is reproduced in this volume, Nemerov transports the reader
into a different world through his engagement with the photographs and
the construction of a narrative around them.
Through its lyrical prose, Summoning Pearl Harbor expands what we
traditionally associate with ekphrastic writing. The kind of writing
that can enliven a work of art is also the kind of writing that makes
the past appear in vivid color and deep feeling. In the end, this timely
piece of writing opens onto fundamental questions about how we
communicate with each other, and how the past continues to live in our
collective consciousness, not merely as facts but as stories that shape
us. Here, Nemerov's constant awareness of the power of language to make
an experience--seen or remembered--become real reminds us that great
ekphrastic writing is at the heart of every effective description.
