Course info
LITC0025: Memory and Literature in a Globalised Culture
Memory is increasingly being recognised as fundamental to the formation of
individual and collective identities. In Greek mythology Memory, or
Mnemosyne, is the mother of the muses, the founding inspiration for the
arts and crafts. Particularly in literature, memory is important because it
both refers to the content of literature and to its creative process.
Through telling and writing, literature binds memory and individual
identity together, and it does so in the medium - language - in which we
also reflect on culture, identity and memory. This module aims to
investigate the role of memory in an age of globalisation powered by new
communication technologies with examples drawn from literature,
photography, film and digital media. Central questions to be investigated
are: how are our memories shaped by cultural and aesthetic expressions, in
which ways does globalisation challenge the content and function of
collective memory, how do new media co-operate with literature in shaping
memories and identities and what is the role of traumatic memories in
contemporary literature and other cultural expressions that deal with the
global climate crisis?
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Tutor
EM