The narrative of silence

This article is concerned with the problems and possibilities of interpreting and filling in the gaps and silences of the past. In doing so, it traces a nineteenth century Icelandic love story in which only one side of the correspondence has been preserved. The lost side, in this case the woman's, can only be read through the preserved side in which she is already interpreted and represented. Wanting for her voice to be heard, however, and also wondering about different kind of gaps and silences (intentional silences and silences because of sources lost), has lead me to argue that silence as a frame of narration is one way to theorise about the gaps and silences. I also argue that 'factionalising' lost letters, and thus challenging traditional methodology and epistemology in history writing, might be a fruitful way for better understanding the silences and elisions of the past.