How Memory Shapes Narratives. A Philosophical Essay on Redeeming the Past

This is an original exploration of how the narratives people construct as they go about everyday living are shaped by certain limitations and regular patterns at work in individual memory. The book draws on themes in Walter Ong's analysis of memory and orality. It also explores the relations between memory aids/supports and memory itself. The recognition of records as playing a role in memory adds a collective dimension and raises questions about the nature of historical truth. The ethical theme is based on the thesis that the past can be redeemed or changed not just on the level of narrative but also on the level of additional actions that can be related to prior actions in such a way as to justify a new narration of the events taken together.