What Constitutes "Memory"?
"And who, of all mean in the world, troubled his brain the least with abstruse thinking; ---the ideas of time and space, --- or how we came by those ideas, --- or of what stuff they were made, --- or whether they were born with us, --- or we pick'd them up afterwards as we went along, -- or whether we did it in frocks, --- or not till we had got into breeches, ---- with a thousand other inquiries and disputes about infinity, presence, liberty, necessity, and so forth . . ." -- Sterne, Tristram Shandy, page 138
"One accomplishment which seems always to have been greatly admired by both ancient and medieval writers was the ability to recite a text backwards as well as forwards, or to skip around in it in a systematic way, without becoming lost or confused. The ability to do this marked the difference between merely being able to imitate something (to reproduce it by rote) and really knowing it, being able to recall it in various ways." -- Carruthers, The Book of Memory, page 21
The historical reading for this week was exceptionally interesting, mostly because I am most fascinated by memory, as well as the distinction between memory and reminiscence. Immediately when I read my quote from that piece, I thought of Tristram Shandy and how he skips around his narrative, yet always brings his tale back full circle to continue the story. In general, it is just an interesting read with its ideas on Locke, the progression of time, and of course the distraction of the mind. It's difficult to read it without becoming distracted one's self, though one can usually just settle into a skimming mode. How that affects retention of the book remains to be seen.
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