Margins of memory; Margins and memory

Abstract or Summary

‘A memory is what is left when something happens and does not completely unhappen’ Edward de Bono ‘Unless we remember we cannot understand’ E M Forster To the ancient Greeks, Mnemosyne or Memory was the mother of the muses. To some extent memory remains the most significant faculty of most artists. Yet we live in a society where memory-challenging disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, degenerate older brains almost as quickly as medicine is prolonging older bodies. Starting with an examination of the myth of the mother of the muses, this paper will compare that with contemporary metaphors of the nature and function of memory. It will go on to consider ageing writers and memory loss. What falls away? What remains? Finally, it will discuss how memory is portrayed in the poetry of Janet Frame who was herself marginalised by mainstream New Zealand society.