Discussion Literature and Cultural Memory
As I continue to journey through life learning as much as I can most noticeably doing things in a combination of sequences, and repetitions memory seems to develop creating neurological pathways for the brain to retrieve memory. My parents always told me that the brain is a muscle so like any muscle it gets stronger with exercise. Furthermore, memory is not only a individualized, but it is also to cultural influencing the group of people in a particular culture. In addition, individuals coming together make families than families create nations in which what affect an individual sometimes affect a nation. Additionally, dealing with memory if something significant enough such as war, and a trending event or topic like Steve Harvey mistake in 2015 beauty pageant may cause a number of individuals to internalize and memorize such events in essence those individual's memories will shape and mold the cultural memory. To me cultural memory help connect people born in different generations, and eras bridging the gap for example many people that grew up in the late 50's to late 60's either knew of or heard of the Honorable Minister Malcolm X so after his assassination the generations of people may not be familiar so with the influence of hip hop group "Public Enemy" rapper Chuck D was able to take a figure in history then put that into his lyrics helping to bridge the cultural memory of civil rights along with black-self determination. According to Richard Mencken he states,"Cultural memory
is formed by symbolic heritage embodied in texts, rites, monuments, celebrations, objects, sacred scriptures and other media that serve as mnemonic triggers to initiate meanings associated with what has happened. Also, it brings back the time of the mythical origins, crystallizes collective experiences of the past and can last for millennia. Therefore it presupposes a knowledge restricted to initiates". It seems as though cultural memories crossover to other forms that help keep the memory in history for instance literature. Literature presents cultural memories in various perspective those views become great literary work with the likes of Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" that captures a piece of history which was slavery depicting the harsh realities of what slaves had to go through as well as Americans that had any type of moral value that faced conflicting with slavery. Additionally, the central character Tom is portrayed as a strong, moral, and upright slave going through slavery which also help influence culture by aiding the fuel of the abolitionist cause during the 1850s. So the novel captured cultural memory laid it into a understanding from the writer's viewpoint in which ironically influences culture from the 1850s to 2010s which is ironic to me. "Literary studies has shown how memory is represented in poetry, drama, and fiction. Metaphors of memory, the narrative representation of consciousness, the literary production of mnemonic space and of subjective time are some of the key issues in literary studies’ engagement with memory. From a narratological viewpoint, it is interesting to note that the distinction between an “experiencing I” and a “narrating I” already rests on a (largely implicit) concept of memory, namely on the idea that there is a difference between pre-narrative experience on the one hand, and, on the other, narrative memory which creates meaning retrospectively. The occupation with first-person narrators is thus always an occupation with the literary representation of individual remembering. Referring to these and other literary forms, and using Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield (1850) as an example, Martin Löschnigg subsumes under the term “rhetoric of memory” those narrative means with which the illusion of authentic autobiographical remembering is created" (Astrid Erll, 2011). In many ways literary representation of historical events help create our sense of cultural identity in numerous ways. First, the actual historical event being described from the writer's interpretation will mold the audience's cultural identity such as when a group of people or a nation such as Spain they are not going to write about the negative history loses or immoral behavior they are going to write about their accomplishments, victories, and contributions to the world like architecture which creates cultural pride that people of Spain will have a sense of pride. Another depiction of literary work influencing cultural identity is the great literature by Booker T. Washington entitled "Up From Slavery" is an autobiographical account of a slave child in the time of civil war facing many obstacles to getting an education at "Hampton University" Washington opened up vocational schools such as "Tuskegee Institute" teaching other black people to pull themselves up. Booker T. Washington literary work has influenced the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey in which inspired a continuous generations of black people culturally giving a sense of pride, hope, and determination with self-reliance and helping each other as well. Literature that is structured sometimes when divided causes parts of cultural memory to be restricted thus limiting knowledge sometimes participation as well kabbala being selective opposed to Judaism which allows for participation (Assmann, 2008). In hindsight, when specific events take place the individuals that witness the event form memories that often if enough individuals conceive those memories becomes cultural memories often translate to literature that connect people from different generations creating cultural identities from African slavery to the conquests of Spain and their victories.
Reference:
1.) http://www.iea.usp.br/en/news/cultural-memory-the-link-between-past-present-and-future (Richard Meckien, 2013)
2.) http://www.aestheticsandculture.net/index.php/jac/article/view/7186/8534