Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations and Tables
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- 1 Memory and Method
- 2 Knowledge, Symbolization and Tradition
- 3 Multiple Remediation
- 4 Presentism and Multidirectionality
- 5 Affective Mobility
- 6 Mythologization: A Founding Myth
- 7 A Time-honoured Myth
- 8 Contradictory Myths
- 9 Memorial and Mythic Functions
- 10 Significance of Distant Memory
- Afterword
- Appendix 1
- Appendix 2
- Bibliography
- Index
1 - Memory and Method
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations and Tables
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- 1 Memory and Method
- 2 Knowledge, Symbolization and Tradition
- 3 Multiple Remediation
- 4 Presentism and Multidirectionality
- 5 Affective Mobility
- 6 Mythologization: A Founding Myth
- 7 A Time-honoured Myth
- 8 Contradictory Myths
- 9 Memorial and Mythic Functions
- 10 Significance of Distant Memory
- Afterword
- Appendix 1
- Appendix 2
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
THE NORMAN CONQUEST of England in 1066 is a ‘fateful event’ and a ‘memory site. For Jan Assman there are specific points in a culture's memory which represent fateful events of the distant past, whose memory is maintained up into the present through cultural formations (texts, rites, monuments) and institutional communication (recitation, practice, observance). Such cultural objects and practices which keep the past alive are invested with powerful ‘mnemonic energy. Following Pierre Nora, an historical event can become a ‘memory site’ insofar as posterity has conferred on it the greatness of origins, the solemnity of inaugural ruptures, and heavy symbolic meaning. A multitude of things can in fact become a ‘memory site’ of the nation – an institution, a monument, a famous person, a famous book; what matters is their pre-eminent status as memorial focal points, and their symbolic signification.
This monograph presents a study of contemporary British memory of the Norman Conquest. Surprisingly, although the event is very well known, and many books and articles are written about it, the Norman Conquest has not yet been approached from a Memory Studies point of view. What I will study following this approach are the shared knowledge, attitudes and beliefs in today's community about the past. An important initial question to discuss is the relationship between memory and history. Astrid Erll presents the strong opinion that conceiving an opposition between ‘memory’ and ‘history’ is a fruitless approach.
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- Information
- Memory and Myths of the Norman Conquest , pp. 1 - 22Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2013