Emerson’s lecture, “Memory,” was first written in 1857 and continually tinkered with and delivered in various incarnations, its appearance in The Natural History of the Intellect being its last. The irony is that by this point, Emerson was suffering from memory problems of which he was well aware. It was only the beginning, it would grow much worse before his death in 1882. But imagine how he must have felt in 1870 when he was 67, delivering this lecture at Harvard and saying things like:
The memory is one of the compensations which Nature grants to those who have used their days well; when age and calamity have bereaved them of their limbs or organs, then they retreat on mental faculty and concentrate on that. The poet, the philosopher, lames, old, blind, sick, yet disputing the ground inch by inch against fortune, finds a strength against the wrecks and decays sometimes more invulnerable than the heyday of youth and talent.
To praise a compensation of which he has been denied is a sad, brave thing.
In the lecture Emerson describes the qualities and importance of memory and what memory does while admitting the impossibility of saying what memory is. He begins the whole lecture with a description filled with wonderful metaphors:
Memory is a primary and fundamental faculty, without which none other can work; the cement, the bitumen, the matrix in the which the other faculties are embedded; or it is the thread on which the beads of man are strung, making the personal identity which is necessary to moral action, without it all life and thought were an unrelated succession. As gravity holds matter from flying off into space, so memory gives stability to knowledge; it is the cohesion which keeps things from falling into a lump, or flowing in waves.
Memory as cement. Memory as thread. Memory as gravity. I think I like the gravity image best because it offers so much to play with.
One of the important things that memory does for us is hold together past and present so that both exist together. The past is never gone, it is always with us in the here and now. Our memory then acts like a companion, a tutor, a poet–and what I like best–a library. Our memories keep records of experiences, thoughts, and facts and holds them for us so that we have them to compare with new experiences, thoughts and facts. Thus are we able to learn and make progress in our thinking. It is not without reason that the Muses are the daughters of Memory.
Memory does play tricks on us though and sometimes, says Emerson, it seems that it has a personality and will of its own like
some old aunt who goes in and out of the house, and occasionally recites anecdotes of old times and persons which I recognize as having heard before, and she being gone again I search in vain for an trace of the anecdotes.
Is that not a marvelous image? I wonder if Emerson had a name for his “old aunt” like Auntie Betsy for instance, and if, when he couldn’t remember something, he ever said, “Auntie Betsy has left the room?”
Emerson has a few other things to say about memory but what it all boils down to for him is that memory “is a presumption of a possession of the future.” He is certain that in living by principles and obeying “the law of the mind instead of passion,” that the “Great Mind” will “enter into us” and we will not only be able to see past and present but the future also. Until that time we are only halves.
Next week’s Emerson: “The Celebration of Intellect”
‘Emerson on memory’ reminds me of Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past. Our memories are powerful shapers of our being. Truth lies in making connections with that past, “The only paradise is paradise lost.”
I always say that I have a man named George, my mental custodian, who keeps stock of the filing cabinets of memories in my head. I always thought it was funny.
The publishing company I work for has published a few collections of stuff by Emerson and you’re definitely encouraging me to read some of them. Seems like such a waste not to used the fantastic resources I have at my fingertips! Gotta love a job that gives you FREE books.
I am fascinated by memory and this post reminds me to read more of Emerson. How sad that he was losing his memory - I wonder if he even remembered he had an old aunt at the end?
I like the idea of the memory as a library - very apt, there ready to be consulted. But most of all I think Emerson has nailed it with “Memory is a primary and fundamental faculty, without which none other can work”.
I used to teach a literary course on memory that was a lot of fun. There’s something about it, its mix of fantasy and autobiography and the way it shifts and changes over time that makes it just perfect for storytelling. Perhaps memory is the first place in which we very naturally use the storytelling faculty for ourselves. I wish I’d known about Emerson’s essay back when I was teaching - I would gladly have used it.
Paul, there is much in Emerson Proust could agree with and I did find myself comparing the two a little.
Sara, excellent! I hope George is a good custodian
I hope you give Emerson a whirl sometime. Even if you don’t agree with what he says, his writing is beautiful.
BooksPlease, I agree with you. We take memory for granted but it allows us to do well just about everything. We don’t realize how much we are made of memories.
Litlove, how I wish I could have been in that class! I find memory to be a fascinating subject. I think you are right that memory is the first place we use storytelling for ourselves. Turning our memories into a story goes a long way in helping us understand and helping us continue to remember.
I want to take Litlove’s class too! The image of Emerson lecturing beautifully on memory while losing his own is very sad. He is a very brave writer, isn’t he?
Sign me up for Litlove’s class as well, that sounds tremendous.
I like how this essay seems to personalize so much of what I read in his “History” essay - in terms of memory being the place where past and present mingle together.
Emerson is so wonderful! I loved this post . . . memory is fascinating in what it contributes, what it denies. I keep meaning to read more Emerson, too.
Interesting stuff, I do wonder if it was the knowledge of his own decline of memory that made him so able to speak of its importance and its comforts. The knowledge that his was to be lost might well be what had given him insight as to its value.
Often that which we take for granted seems to us unimportant, it’s only with the risk of loss we see how valuable it always was.
Does he speak at all to the unreliability of memory? Often that which we remember is not that which others remember, even though all were present at the same events. Our memories are closer to reconstructions than photos (as litlove above discusses), even though the photo analogy is the one we tend to prefer. Can the old aunt be trusted to tell us the truth?
This is a really interesting post. I’ve never read this particular Emerson essay, but the younger version of Emerson in “Self-Reliance” calls the past a “corpse” that we drag around with us. He is criticizing some of the other writers and poets of the time, I think, for being so consumed by history and memory.
It is interesting that as he begins to lose his own memory, he seems to be more accepting of the importance of remembering to all humans.
I really enjoy reading your blog. My name is Laura and I just started my own book blog at http://www.hawthornescarlet.blogspot.com.
Dorothy, I do think Emerson is a brave writer. And perhaps we could convince Litlove to do an online course sometime
Verbivore, thanks for reminding me where else he talks about past and present. Yes, this one is a nice companion to his History.
Inkslinger, thanks! Memory and what it contributes and what it denies. I like that. We “forget” about its contribution I think, tending to focus on what we are denied.
Max, you make a good point. He began writing about memory before his started to go, but no doubt beginning to lose his memory probably spurred him on to greater insights. He speaks more about not being able to remember than he does on its unreliability. Too bad too because I’d be interested in hearing what he had to say on whether the old aunt can be trusted (your phrasing the question like you did cracked me up btw
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Hi Laura! Nice to meet you, and welcome to the blog world! I think Emerson becomes a bit more sympathetic to the past as he ages. He does, in a brief sentence buried in the middle of a paragraph mention the past as being “baggage” but he doesn’t seem to attach a highly negative value to it, only that it’s something we carry around with us always.