Religion and Cultural Memory (Paperback)

Jan Assmann

ISBN 10: 0804745234 / ISBN 13: 9780804745239

Published by Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, 2005

Paperback. In ten brilliant essays, Jan Assmann explores the connections between religion, culture, and memory. Building on Maurice Halbwachs's idea that memory, like language, is a social phenomenon as well as an individual one, he argues that memory has a cultural dimension too. He develops a persuasive view of the life of the past in such surface phenomena as codes, religious rites and festivals, and canonical texts on the one hand, and in the Freudian psychodrama of repressing and resurrecting the past on the other. Whereas the current fad for oral history inevitably focuses on the actual memories of the last century or so, Assmann presents a commanding view of culture extending over five thousand years. He focuses on cultural memory from the Egyptians, Babylonians, and the Osage Indians down to recent controversies about memorializing the Holocaust in Germany and the role of memory in the current disputes between Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East and between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. Through a commanding view extending over five thousand years, Jan Assmann explores the connections between religion, culture, and memory, in ten brilliant essays. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780804745239

Synopsis:

In ten brilliant essays, Jan Assmann explores the connections between religion, culture, and memory. Building on Maurice Halbwachs's idea that memory, like language, is a social phenomenon as well as an individual one, he argues that memory has a cultural dimension too. He develops a persuasive view of the life of the past in such surface phenomena as codes, religious rites and festivals, and canonical texts on the one hand, and in the Freudian psychodrama of repressing and resurrecting the past on the other. Whereas the current fad for oral history inevitably focuses on the actual memories of the last century or so, Assmann presents a commanding view of culture extending over five thousand years. He focuses on cultural memory from the Egyptians, Babylonians, and the Osage Indians down to recent controversies about memorializing the Holocaust in Germany and the role of memory in the current disputes between Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East and between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland.

About the Author: Jan Assmann is Professor of Egyptology at the University of Heidelberg. He is the author of many books, of which the following have been translated into English: Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt (2005), The Mind of Egypt: History and Meaning in the Time of the Pharaohs (2002), The Search for God in Ancient Egypt (2001), and Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism (1998).

Bibliographic Details

Title: Religion and Cultural Memory (Paperback)
Publisher: Stanford University Press, Palo Alto
Publication Date: 2005
Binding: Paperback
Condition: new
Edition: 1st Edition