Beyond the Archive : Memory, Narrative, and the Autobiographical Process

Jens Brockmeier

ISBN 10: 0199861560 / ISBN 13: 9780199861569

Published by Oxford University Press Sep 2015, 2015

About this Item

Neuware - Our longstanding view of memory and remembering is in the midst of a profound transformation. This transformation does not only affect our concept of memory or a particular idea of how we remember and forget; it is a wider cultural process. In order to understand it, one must step back and consider what is meant when we say memory. Brockmeier's far-ranging studies offer such a perspective, synthesizing understandings of remembering from the neuroscienceshumanities, social studies, and in key works of autobiographical literature and life-writing. His conclusions force us to radically rethink our very notion of memory as an archive of the past, one that suggests the natural existence of a distinctive human capacity (or a set of neuronal systems) enabling us to'encode,' 'store,' and 'recall' past experiences.Now, propelled by new scientific insights and digital technologies, a new picture is emerging. It shows that there are many cultural forms of remembering and forgetting, embedded in a broad spectrum of human activities and artifacts. This picture is more complex than any notion of memory as storage of the past would allow. Indeed it comes with a number of alternatives to the archival memory, one of which Brockmeier describes as the narrative approach. The narrative approach not onlypermits us to explore the storied weave of our most personal form of remembering-that is, the autobiographical-it also sheds new light on the interrelations among memory, self, and culture.

Seller Inventory # 9780199861569

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Beyond the Archive : Memory, Narrative, and the Autobiographical Process
• Publisher: Oxford University Press Sep 2015
• Publication Date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0199861560
• ISBN 13: 9780199861569
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu

About this title

Synopsis

Examining the notion of remembering in the neurosciences, humanities, social studies, and in key works of autobiographical literature, these far-ranging studies shed new light on the narrative dynamic of remembering, forgetting, and identity.

About the Author

Jens Brockmeier is a professor at The American University of Paris. With a background in psychology, philosophy, and language studies, his interests are in issues of human identity, mind, and language, which he has examined in a variety of cultural contexts and under conditions of health and illness.