"The Medieval Craft of Memory"

The following quote is an excerpt from the general introduction to "The Medieval Craft of Memory: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures" by Mary Carruthers and Jan M. Ziolkowski (Editors). I have chosen to feature it here because I am drawn to the way in which both authors articulate memory in relation to, of course, time but also space. These two factors are critical when examining memory. However, I also think that power relations, in Foucauldian sense, is important when thinking about time and space. Memory has a lot to do with power. In "re-collecting," one might be engaging in a "will to truth." Hmmm....I'll keep thinking about this....until next time. Enjoy the quote!

"In one common meaning of the word, 'memory' specifically connotes 'storage,' a treasure house both of experiences and of facts. We can think of our memories as being like valuables in a bank vault, just sitting in our brains, collecting dust and grime, perhaps (in a poorly made and tended vault) suffering depredations from rats and air polution, until oblivion overtakes them. This is a curious intellectual model, for it suggests that our memories are essentially passive impressions of experiences we have had that can be taken out whole and unchanged whenever we need them. The notion that in re-collecting we actually make (and remake) our memories is regarded as somehow shameful, an admission that memory, like art and poetry, can 'tell lies'".

"Yet it is also true that to make use of memores--indeed to know they are there in our minds at all--we must recall them to our active awareness, our knowing. Re-collection is not passive, but rather an activity involving human will and thought; it is often defined as a form of reasoning. One may conveniently think of this activity in spatial terms, as if memories have been storied in a variety of places and must be called together in a common place where we can become aware of them, where we can 'see' them again and know them in the present".

Mary Carruthers and Jan M. Ziolkowski, eds.

The Medieval Craft of Memory: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures