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1. Discuss one of the quotes Luiselli uses as an epigraph within Part I: Soundscapes and how its themes are reflected within the first few passages of the novel.

The epigraph Luiselli includes prior to the opening of the novel is taken from a memoir by a French historian named Arlette Farge. It states, "An archive presupposes an archivist, a hand that collects and classifies" (2). While there are a great many archivists present within the narrative of Lost Children Archives, including all four members of the blended family at the text's center, the reader finds out early on that both the man and the woman are concerned with archiving and classifying, both in their professional lives and in their personal ones. In the second paragraph of Part I: Family Soundscapes within the section of text entitled "Relocations" and then under the subheading of "Departure," the woman echoes the epigraph when she states that though she and the man engage in "plucking, shuffling, and editing sounds...for a living," she has no idea which parts of their story they will "pluck and edit out for" the children and which parts they will "shuffle around and insert back in to produce a final version" (5) of the family's narrative.

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