Comments on: Fiddling and Herodotus and Memory (no they have nothing to do with each other) http://somanybooksblog.com/2008/08/07/fiddling-and-herodotus-and-memory-no-they-have-nothing-to-do-with-each-other/ the agony and ecstasy of a reading life Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:53:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Stefanie http://somanybooksblog.com/2008/08/07/fiddling-and-herodotus-and-memory-no-they-have-nothing-to-do-with-each-other/#comment-41386 Sun, 10 Aug 2008 20:32:37 +0000 http://somanybooks.wordpress.com/?p=1798#comment-41386 Sylvia, it does give a different perspective for Herodotus doesn’t it? He isn’t the first writer but he is the first who took human history has his subject.

Dark Orpheus, great quote! Oh yes, I agree, memory is and always will be an imperfect thing. That’s another reason why it is always important to have a variety of perspectives :)

Litlove, do as I say not as I do? ;) I am sure the 200 word count was there to be generous especially since the word counts in the examples we were given were far less than 200 words.

Emily, I would love to learn how to play the fiddle! Maybe when I retire or win the lottery, whichever comes first :) I agree with you. I think too many times these days we try our best to forget rather than remember.

]]> By: Emily Barton http://somanybooksblog.com/2008/08/07/fiddling-and-herodotus-and-memory-no-they-have-nothing-to-do-with-each-other/#comment-41380 Sat, 09 Aug 2008 15:47:03 +0000 http://somanybooks.wordpress.com/?p=1798#comment-41380 I thought you meant fiddling as in playing the musical instrument LOL! That I can’t do, but the type of fiddling you DO mean, well, that I do all the time. I think, in this day and age, we could stand a little more of Herodotus’s fears when it comes to memory. We don’t seem to care quite so much that without a memory of our past history, humans can’t survive.

]]> By: litlove http://somanybooksblog.com/2008/08/07/fiddling-and-herodotus-and-memory-no-they-have-nothing-to-do-with-each-other/#comment-41371 Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:05:20 +0000 http://somanybooks.wordpress.com/?p=1798#comment-41371 Oh, I know all about fiddling with work, and you have my sympathy. But really, if you’ve answered the question then I don’t see you need worry. Some responses may need more words than others, and I imagine the ruling is there to be generous but not excessive. And I really must get me a copy of that Travels with H. book!

]]> By: Dark Orpheus http://somanybooksblog.com/2008/08/07/fiddling-and-herodotus-and-memory-no-they-have-nothing-to-do-with-each-other/#comment-41370 Fri, 08 Aug 2008 06:10:43 +0000 http://somanybooks.wordpress.com/?p=1798#comment-41370 Reminded me of the story from Phaedrus – where the god Theuth gave the knowledge of writing to King Thamus.

Googled this:

“But when they came to letters, This, said Theuth, will make the Egyptians wiser and give them better memories; it is a specific both for the memory and the wit. Thamus replied:

‘O most ingenious Theuth, the parent or inventor of an art is not always the best judge of the utility or inutility of his own inventions to the users of them. And in this instance, you who are the father of letters, from a paternal love of your own children have been led to attribute to them a quality which they cannot have; for this discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing, they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality.’

Herodotus was striving to be a preserver of stories and memories. But it seems to me that memory is inherently organic and will alway defy our attempts to capture it fully.

]]> By: Sylvia http://somanybooksblog.com/2008/08/07/fiddling-and-herodotus-and-memory-no-they-have-nothing-to-do-with-each-other/#comment-41368 Fri, 08 Aug 2008 03:55:06 +0000 http://somanybooks.wordpress.com/?p=1798#comment-41368 Wow. I get anxious about some of our less durable “memory” media, but I guess it’s nothing like it was in the time of Herodotus. I suppose he was quite forward-thinking to want to record what was in people’s memories. The Father of History indeed.

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