Orality and the Problem of Memory
A professor of mine once posed the question: “What do you truly know?” My obvious initial response was, “What do you mean, what do I know? Isn’t that why I’m here? To expand upon the wealth of knowledge that I already know?” After tossing the question around for a few days, I finally realized what she was getting at--knowledge equals experience, and experience promotes memory. In today’s culture of hypertext and cyberspace, the opportunities for experiential learning are becoming a thing of the past. The bard has been replaced by digital and virtual technology that effectively stores the information we need to know into a confined space, thus giving the modern literate a license to forget. The elimination of experience squelches memory.
This is the concept that Michael Hobart and Zachary S. Schiffman explore in the “Orality and the Problem of Memory,” a chapter in the book Information through the Ages: Literacy, Numeracy, and the Computer Revolution. “For us,” they say,
The term ‘memory’ evokes the image of a thing, a container for information, or the content of that container. Thus, from our literate viewpoint, the Iliad preserves the knowledge of the Trojan War. But in jumping to this conclusion, we lose sight of the Iliad as an oral phenomenon, as the singing of a song. It is not so much a thing as an act, a gestalt uniting bard and audience in a shared consciousness. This phenomenon has little in common with that desiccated thing we literates call “memory.” In the world before writing, memory is the social act of remembering. It is commemoration. (15)
The memory of oral culture is a holistic experience, combining mind, sight, and situational relevance. The ba...
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...ity of commemoration continually reinterprets the past in the light of an ever-changing present. In so doing, commemoration enables the community both to cohere in the present and to (re)define its aspirations for the future: memory working forward. (27)
The cohesion of the members of the oral community is achieved because there is no separation of the knower from the known. The meters, sounds, and images can “not be abstracted beyond commemorative practices…they do not constitute information as a separable body of mental objects” (30), but rather function as an aid to memory. Print culture cannot bridge this gap. Although “writing” permits communication over space and time” (13), the reader is forever distanced from the content. There is no immediacy of knowing, no necessity for memory, and the print culture is provided a license to forget.
The history of flying dates back as early as the fifteenth century. A Renaissance man named Leonardo da Vinci introduced a flying machine known as the ornithopter. Da Vinci proposed the idea of a machine that had bird like flying capabilities. Today no ornithopters exist due to the restrictions of humans, and that the ornithopters just aren’t practical. During the eighteenth century a philosopher named Sir George Cayley had practical ideas of modern aircraft. Cayley never really designed any workable aircraft, but had many incredible ideas such as lift, thrust, and rigid wings to provide for lift. In the late nineteenth century the progress of aircraft picks up. Several designers such as Henson and Langley, both paved the way for the early 1900’s aircraft design. Two of the most important people in history of flight were the Wright Brothers. The Wright Brothers were given the nickname the “fathers of the heavier than air flying machine” for their numerous flights at their estate in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Orville and Wilbur Wright created a motor-powered biplane in which they established incredible feats of the time. The Wright Brothers perfected their design of the heavier than air flying ma...
When discussing the impact of memory on daily life, Foer explains that “the average person squanders about forty days a year compensating for things he or she has forgotten… everyday there seems to be more to remember…with a memory like Ben Pridmore’s I imagined life would be more qualitatively different--and better”(MWE page 7). This point highlights how important memory truly is. With a poor memory, we struggle with recalling even the simplest of observations and events. In addition, Foer uses confirmation to persuade the reader that having a good memory has positive effects on intelligence, noting that it would make him “…more persuasive, more confident, and in some fundamental sense smarter…” as well as a “better journalist, friend, and boyfriend”(MWE page 7). Finally, through Foer’s use of confirmation, we are brought to the realization that without memory, “our world would immediately crumble”(MWE page 19), especially in a situation where “all the world’s ink [becomes] invisible and all our bytes [disappear]”( MWE pade 19). Foer successfully defends his argument that without textual aids and external means of remembering information, we as a society would lose a vast amount of knowledge solely due to our inability to successfully retain memories. These three pieces of evidence effectively confirm Joshua Foers primary claim that memory is
The Oxford online dictionary defines the word as follows, to “Recall and show respect for (something or someone)” or to “Mark or celebrate (an event or person) by doing or producing something.” This might provide us with a vague understanding of the literal definition, however it provides no insight into the deeper meaning that resonates within the word. In my mind commemoration exists in an immeasurable way, whether we are visiting the grave of a loved one or clipping on the unmistakable red poppy we have made the choice to show recognition to someone or something. No matter what action is undertaken in commemoration, the purpose is the same, to acknowledge a prior person or
...der was designed to hold a pilot on his stomach in the center and would control the movement of the craft through a process that would become known as "wing warping". (Cite) On a windy day, the brothers tested their glider. Wilbur was the pilot while Orville and a man named Bill Tate held ropes that would steady the glider like a kite. The craft was successful and lifted fifteen feet off the ground. (Cite) After the successful flight though, the brothers ran into a slight set back. While adjusting the glider, a wind lifted the craft off the ground and the glider was smashed onto the ground a few yards away. This crash was not the last setback the wright brothers experienced. After many successful flights later on, the brothers began to look for a way for the glider to be self-powered, and not have to rely on the wind. Their glider needed a propeller and an engine.
The evidence shows that because of the Wright brothers' methods of testing, and their focus on developing lift and control, they were able to beat the crowd of enthusiastic aviation experimenters in the race for flight. Wilbur and Orville Wright were two men who worked very hard in understanding and putting to work the principles of flight in building a successful and practical aircraft. All their hard work paid off when, on that historic day in 1903, they finally made the first powered flight. The Wright brothers' invention has changed the world, and they will always be remembered as the two men who flew first.
Homer’s Iliad has been a European myth for many millennia , the long poetic narrative written in the 8th century B.C. recounts a fearsome war fought over a beautiful woman. The reliability of Homers Iliad as a true historical document has been challenged for hundreds of years and only through archaeological studies can the truth be deciphered. The Iliad was written five centuries after the war, where the stories had been passed down through the oral tradition, therefore the type of society reflected within the poems resemble much more the time of Homer . The fact and fiction of the Iliad has been uncovered through archaeology. Archaeologist found a site in which they thought to have been ‘Troy’ destroyed by the powerful country of Mycenae in the late Bronze Age. They found large amount of material culture from where they could reconstruct the society, this included pottery, engravings, murals and clay tablets. A reason for the Trojan War has always inspired great controversy. The Trojan War according to Homer was fought over the abduction of a beautiful women but this theory appears improbable. Other causes which could have sparked a war is Troy’s geographical positioning. This made it extremely opulent, where other countries of the Aegean would trade there goods and use its harbour. The Mycenaean’s being an extremely imperial, violent and militaristic country would have seen Troy as a great opportunity to gain territory and wealth, on this motive the war took place.
Discuss the need for an explanation of human memory, which proposes that memory is a set of stages, rather than a single process.
Memory is a marvelous aspect of who we are as human beings. It can produce delight, warning, affection, thought, sentimentality, and feelings of commitment. When memory is invoked, we are called to attention. The past becomes present and we become present to events in the past in a way that pushes us into the future. Memory is the way past events and commitments “live” for us and continue to touch us in a very real way.
Collective memory is the remembered history of a community; the way groups form memories out of a shared past to create a common identity. Collective memory is the structures that underlie all myths and histories without any distinction between them. The past that is fixed and internalized is myth, whether it is fact or fiction (Assmann 2011: 59). Therefore the memory of a group is a construction, or reconstruction, of the past. Collective memory can be expressed through a variety of different medias, e.g. festivals, rituals, symbols, memorial places, museums, as well as oral and written narratives, like myths, prophecies, law material, biographies and perceived historical accounts (Lewis 1975: 13). Each memory is specifically designed to recall events in the history of the collective. The past remembered is not necessarily a historically accurate past, but it is based on stories recognized to be the past as it has been remembe...
Human memory is flexible and prone to suggestion. “Human memory, while remarkable in many ways, does not operate like a video camera” (Walker, 2013). In fact, human memory is quite the opposite of a video camera; it can be greatly influenced and even often distorted by interactions with its surroundings (Walker, 2013). Memory is separated into three different phases. The first phase is acquisition, which is when information is first entered into memory or the perception of an event (Samaha, 2011). The next phase is retention. Retention is the process of storing information during the period of time between the event and the recollection of a piece of information from that event (Samaha, 2011). The last stage is retrieval. Retrieval is recalling stored information about an event with the purpose of making an identification of a person in that event (Samaha, 2011).
Wright, Wilbur, and Orville Wright, photographer. [1901 glider being flown as a kite, Wilbur at left side, Orville at right; Kitty Hawk, North Carolina]. [1901] Image. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, . Accessed 29 Nov.
The relationships between parents and their sons in the Iliad are not relationships we expect to see in today’s society. The Iliad portrays the relationships between fathers and sons as something more than just physical and emotional. It is based on pride and respect for one another. The expectations of their son are more so to pass on their fathers reputable name and to follow in their father’s footsteps of being noble warriors. These relationships are the driving forces in the Iliad, making each son in the Iliad identifiable first by their father’s name. An outcome of the father–son relationships is ancestral loyalty among the characters which play a prominent role in war. Therefore, not only does the Iliad share a major war story, but the strong relationships among fathers and sons, ancestral loyalty among characters, and relationships between mothers and sons.
Can you imagine a world without airplanes? There would be no fast and convenient way to travel around the world. In fact, the modern airplane is so integrated into our modern and faced-paced society, we would face detrimental problems without them. Thanks to Orville and Wilbur Wright, the invention of the airplane has immensely changed the world as we know it today. The contribution of the airplane makes the Wright brothers two of the most influential people in all of history. In the book The 100: A Ranking of Most Influential People in History, Michael Hart ranked the Wright brothers the 28th most influential people of all time. This ranking is very accurate because Orville and Wilbur Wright have dramatically changed the world in a plethora of different ways. First of all, Orville and Wilbur Wrights development of the airplane has affected the way the world travels around the globe. Next, modern airplanes and fighter jets have remarkably changed the way wars are fought. Also, today’s society has been affected through the massive airplane and air freight industry which adds billions of dollars every year to the world’s economy. Overall, the Wright brothers have irrevocably changed the world in a way that will forever be regarded as one of the most consummate and influential achievements of the 20th Century and all of time.
Scott, John The Iliad : A Commentary. Vol. VI: books 21-24. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1993.
affect our memory. It is important to be aware of these factors and to question the accuracy of our own memories. commit due to inaccurate eyewitness testimony. Cognitive psychologists have conducted extensive research on the reliability of eyewitness testimony and have found that it can be influenced by a variety of factors, including stress, leading questions, and post-event information. In fact, studies have shown that eyewitnesses are often inaccurate in their descriptions and identifications, which can have serious consequences for the accused.