Comments on: Emerson on Memory

By: Stefanie

Stefanie — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:13:14 +0000

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 )

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.

By: Laura D.

Laura D. — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:45:02 +0000

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.

By: Max Cairnduff

Max Cairnduff — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:28:42 +0000

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?

By: Inkslinger

Inkslinger — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:24:34 +0000

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.

By: verbivore

verbivore — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:52:50 +0000

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.