Memoriatografia

I first became interested in memory while I was taking an undergraduate course in literature titled "Women's Autobiography". I remember reading the most spectacular "automemorias" (as I refer to them) by Audre Lorde, Nancy Mairs, Zora Neale Hurston, Virginia Woolf, Margery Kempe and Gloria Anzaldua. I remember thinking how amazing these women were in using language in order to fashion themselves as true agents in their lives as strong, memorable and gifted women.



I remember that I wrote my seminar paper on Gloria Anzaldua's Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, a book that changed my thinking, my scholarship and, without kidding, my life. I remember weeping when I read her book. She fused English and Spanish with a poetic touch and theorized the existence between two worlds. I really loved the metaphor of the serpent to fashion her rhetoric. A lot of her work since has influenced me and I will always be grateful to Gloria for blessing me with her words. I miss you Gloria. Te extrañamos.

I am always fascinated by a discussion as to how reliable autobiographies are in reflecting the life of a person. I remember reading a biography on John Rechy once where Rechy's biographer claimed that Rechy refuses to write his autobiography because he has no faith in memory (don't quote me here). I remember writing a book review of it and then scolding Rechy for disbelieving memory as a true agent for a writer to compose her or his life on the page. But, despite my disagreement with Rechy's belief, this disagreement has me thinking about the following questions: Can memory be trusted? Can memory be trusted especially when we consider that it is a human construct and that humanity is essentially flawed? We can also ask: Is memory divine? How close is the relationship between memory and faith? Memory and religion? Memory and disbelief?

So, through my brief journey into autobiography as an undergraduate, I learned that memory provides agency but, at the same time, can bind us within the notion that all that we say is up for debate. Remember that guy who wrote A Million Little Pieces? I bet he's in a million pieces right now trying to apologize for embellishing what happened (and what didn't).

This last week, I started reading and taking notes on Francis Yates' The Art of Memory , which is the seminal book on memory that rhetoric scholars such as Sharon Crowley cite as an important source. Yates eloquently and engagingly presents the three main Latin texts about memory in the opening chapter to her book: De Oratore, De Inventione, and Rhetorica Ad Herennium. What is very important about this book is the way in which Yates analyzes all three sources and raises some interesting questions that I hope to share with you next time.

In the meantime, treat yourself to a reading Anzaldua's Borderlands/La Frontera and Lorde's Zami for starters in autobiography. These book are perfect examples of how memory is crystallized in order to compose iconic figures of intellect, strength, wisdom and imagination.




With regard to Yates, more later…

Hasta la proxima,

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