tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post7869380297599460849..comments2024-03-19T02:14:31.704-04:00Comments on <center>OnFiction</center>: The Uses of MemoryKeith Oatleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16419339550879570935noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post-43493333164426611912013-01-11T17:19:10.142-05:002013-01-11T17:19:10.142-05:00Thank you so much, Jim, for these lovely quotes. I...Thank you so much, Jim, for these lovely quotes. I did not know of this book by Svetlana Boym. I tend to think there's something a bit shameful, regressed, about nostalgia. But you, and she, make it sound far more interesting. Keith Oatleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16419339550879570935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post-42964791401249515762013-01-10T05:46:10.703-05:002013-01-10T05:46:10.703-05:00I suppose most people view memory as a liquid, a p...I suppose most people view memory as a liquid, a place to wallow in, rather than as a solid, a firm base on which to build a future. That’s the problem with metaphors though, they sometimes take over and we stop being able to look objectively at things like time or memory. But if we are going to work with metaphors here the fact is that memories can exist as solids, liquids and vapours and there is no right state for them to be in. I’ve just become aware of a book by Svetlana Boym called <i>The Future of Nostalgia</i> in which she says: “...nostalgia goes beyond individual psychology. At first glance, nostalgia is a longing for a place, but actually it is a yearning for a different time—the time of our childhood, the slower rhythms of our dreams. In a broader sense, nostalgia is a rebellion against the modern idea of time, the time of history and progress. The nostalgic desires to obliterate history and turn it into a private or collective mythology, to revisit time like space, refusing to surrender to the irreversibility of time that plagues the human condition,” and in another place she suggests that “[n]ostalgia is not always about the past it can be retrospective but also prospective.” I think here, although I’ve not read the quote in context, she’s supporting my idea that memories can be solid and can be built upon. Personally I’m often frustrated by the inadequacy of my memories; there’s never enough to wallow in and put any weight on them they crumble so not much use for either. <br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.com