Literature as a medium of cultural memory

pp. 144-171

in: Astrid Erll, Memory in culture, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011

Abstract

As a medium of cultural memory literature is omnipresent: The lyrical poem, the dime novel, the historical novel, fantasy fiction, romantic comedies, war movies, soap operas and digital stories — literature manifested in all genres and media technologies, both popular and "trivial" literature as well as canonized and "high" literature have served — and continue to serve — as media of memory. They fulfil a multitude of mnemonic functions, such as the imaginative creation of past lifeworlds, the transmission of images of history, the negotiation of competing memories, and the reflection about processes and problems of cultural memory. Literature permeates and resonates in memory culture. But at what points exactly do cultural memory and its symbol system "literature" intersect? How are literary media distinguished from non-literary media of memory? How do literary representations of memory refer to mnemonic contexts and how do those contexts, in turn, refer to literature? How does a literary text become a medium of memory? What mnemonic functions is it then able to fulfil? And which methodological tools can we use to study literature's impact in memory culture?