This book questions the sociocultural dimensions of remembering. It offers an overview of the history and theory of memory studies through the lens of sociology, political science, anthropology, psychology, literature, art and media studies; documenting current international and interdisciplinary memory research in an unprecedented way.

Acknowledgements PART I: INTRODUCTION: WHY 'MEMORY'? Why 'Memory'? Why Now? What Is Meant by 'Memory'? Memory, Remembering, or Forgetting? Goals and Structure of this Book PART II: THE INVENTION OF CULTURAL MEMORY: A SHORT HISTORY OF MEMORY STUDIES Maurice Halbwachs: Mémoire collective Aby Warburg: Mnemosyne Pathos Formulas and a European Memory of Images Pierre Nora's Lieux de mémoire - and Beyond Aleida and Jan Assmann: The Cultural Memory PART III: THE DISCIPLINES OF MEMORY STUDIES Historical and Social Memory Material Memory: Art and Literature Mind and Memory: Psychological Approaches PART IV: MEMORY AND CULTURE: A SEMIOTIC MODEL Metaphors - Productive, Misleading, and Superfluous, or: How to Conceive of Memory on a Collective Level Material, Social, and Mental Dimensions of Memory Culture Autobiographical, Semantic, and Procedural Systems of Cultural Memory Related Concepts: Collective Identity and Cultural Experience PART V: MEDIA AND MEMORY Media and the Construction of Memory The History of Memory as the History of Media Medium of Memory: A Compact Concept Functions of Media of Memory Concepts of Media Memory Studies PART VI: LITERATURE AS A MEDIUM OF CULTURAL MEMORY Literature as a Symbolic Form of Cultural Memory Literary Text and Mnemonic Context: Mimesis Literature as a Medium of Collective and Individual Memory PART VII: AFTERWORD: WHITHER MEMORY STUDIES? Index

"This is groundbreaking work that provides one of the most thorough, sophisticated and challenging overviews of the area to date. Memory studies has been waiting for some time for the book that will provide a comprehensive account of its origins, development and current state: this is that book. This will be a pivotal reference point for researchers for some time to come." - Steven Brown, University of Leicester, UK