When the Personal and the Collective Merge into Oneness: The Dynamics of Memory in Petina Gappah’s &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;The Book of Memory&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt;

Mamadou Abdou Babou Ngom

doi:10.4236/als.2022.101003

Abstract

Using as a stepping-stone The Book of Memory by Zimbabwean lawyer and novelist Petinah Gappah, I set out in this research article to grapple with the dynamics of the vexed issue of memory. The paper argues that, when it comes to memory, the individual intertwines with the collective. Even though the act of remembering is purely individual, the fact remains that it is enacted in a social context with groups acting as cues. Remembering is not an isolated act. Instead, it is group-induced. The article also brings to light the crippling weaknesses that memory studies have long suffered from, namely the short shrift given to the collective dimension in favour of the personal. It follows from the research project, though, that this flaw began to be remedied with the seminal of work of the French sociologist Maurice Halbwachs who introduced the concept of “collective memory” to foreground the communal nature of memory. What the French thinker calls “social frameworks”, the paper explains, reflects the social contexts in which people remember. The politics of memory works at many levels, with forgetting being dubbed by Aleida Assman a “social normality” and remembering the “exception.” From a methodological perspective, I elected to adopt an approach based on the humanities, and the social sciences, not least sociology and history, in order the better to bring into sharp relief the dynamics of memory.

Highlights

Using as a stepping-stone The Book of Memory by Zimbabwean lawyer and novelist Petinah Gappah, I set out in this research article to grapple with the dynamics of the vexed issue of memory
Even though the act of remembering is purely individual, the fact remains that it is enacted in a social context with groups acting as cues
The article brings to light the crippling weaknesses that memory studies have long suffered from, namely the short shrift given to the collective dimension in favour of the personal. It follows from the research project, though, that this flaw began to be remedied with the seminal of work of the French sociologist Maurice Halbwachs who introduced the concept of “collective memory” to foreground the communal nature of memory

Summary

Introduction

The purpose of this research paper is to grapple with the vexed issue of memory. Two reasons basically underpin my choice of memory as a subject within the framework of this investigation project. That is why James Fentress and Chris Wickham feel personal memory to be less objective than collective memory From their vantage point, there is no better way to share past experiences than through the spoken word: What makes objective memory seem more usable as a source is the fact that we can articulate it. Collective memory or social memory embodies a set of social representations which constitutes, a set of concepts, statements and explanations originating in daily life in the course of individual inter-communications They are the equivalent in our society of the myths and belief systems in traditional societies; they might even be said the contemporary version of common sense...the way in which men think or create their shared reality as in the content of their thinking. The dynamics of memory will be grappled with at a greater length from a fictional perspective, viz., The Book of Memory

The Book of Memory: A Synopsis

Language as a Vehicle of Memory

The Collective Edge to Memory’s Remembering

The Searing Memories of “Othering”

Memory and Identity

Memory and Ethics

A Potted Biography of the Author