REDISCOVERING THE ART OF MEMORY
CHRIS GROOMS
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
RATIONALE
Many college students no longer value memorization as a virtue that leads to a larger participation in their
respective academic and life journeys. They consider it a burden rather than a valuable technique that frees
them to recall and explore any subject at a greater depth. They revel in the memory of the music lyrics on
their iPods but never consistently translate such values into possessing and memorizing specific
information in their academic work. They cannot commit to internalizing knowledge as a musician enjoys
internalizing a piece of music for future recall. They see little benefit from such activity, even through in
the long term such work would enrich their lives. How did the techniques of reading and remembering fall
into a list of tedious burdens rather than an accumulation of intellectual rewards? What is the larger social
context to the art of memory in the current age, and how do we reclaim its benefits? What is the
connection between popular attitudes towards the technology that delivers knowledge (laptops PCs, smart
phones, iPods, etc.) and the value of memorizing the knowledge itself? What techniques from ancient,
medieval, and modern arts and sciences would foster a new balance and reclamation of the art of memory?
My goal is that such a study would benefit both my colleagues and students by revealing a wider range of
tools and techniques for creating greater student commitment to reading and valuing texts.
D E S C R I P TI O N
This study-grant would combine cross-disciplinary readings in the art of memory (mnemology) from a
broad range of classical, medieval, and modern authors. These readings explore the philosophy,
mechanics, and cultural applications of memory over many ages, and how various techniques and attitudes
pose both problems and solutions for students, artists, and scientists who need to recall and apply critical
knowledge to their skills and activities.
This list of books includes a range of texts and anthologies with authors ranging from Aristotle to
Lutz, including obscure historical texts and relevant excerpts. Although each of these texts will reveal and
demand further exploration of other primary and secondary sources that I cannot name as yet, I will focus
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on these specific texts as an outline for discourse and presentation to the faculty. With such exploration, I
will develop and present a larger annotated bibliography.
The following authors explore the nature of memory from various perspectives and disciplines, such as
philosophy, music, mathematics, psychology, theology, etc. I will do close readings of the following six
books over the study grant period and develop a presentation web site that links the more interesting
discoveries, theories, and techniques.
THE AUTHORS. ANTHOLOGIES, AND QUERIES:
ARISTOTLE:
On the Soul and Memory and Recollection. Joe Sachs, trans. Green Lion Press, 2002
Aristotle explores the psyche as (and defines the soul) as an entity influenced by light and color with
respect the power of memory and recollection. How does this idea translate into the ‘visual’ learner culture
that we currently face as educators? What terms does he define that may be useful in understanding the
nature of memory in our current visual culture?
CARRUTHERS, MARY, AND JAN M. ZIOLKOWSKI, EDS.
The Medieval Art of Memory. Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 2002.
Thus text explores the medieval context to the idea and force of memory in learning texts and music,
particularly about the idea of phantasm (which Thomas Aquinas takes from the Latin Aristotle), motus,
and passio. Carruthers also outline and distinguishes Latin concepts (some based in Aristotle) that have
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double meanings, such as ornatus and ornamentum, “equipment, adornment.” Are such techniques and
terms simply the icing, or are they the actual cake with reference to memorization techniques?
SMALL, JOCELYN PENNY
Wax Tablets of the Mind: Cognitive Studies of Memory and Literacy in Classical Antiquity. Routledge, 1997.
This text connect older classical techniques of memory with new media philosophies, exploring the
problem of having too much information and how students become media literate through display and
retrieval and vice versa. How did ancient readers extract relevant information and remember it? How do
such classical models compare or contrast with the current model of constant interaction with web-based
materials? How does the study and review of older classical paradigms help us value memory in a world of
web-based knowledge?
RICCI, MATEO (JONATHAN D., SPENCE, ED.)
The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci. Routledge, 1997.
This is a pocket-hole study of one character, Matteo Ricci (1552-1616), an Italian Jesuit, who entered
China in 1583 to spread Catholicism in the largely Confucian country. Ricci succeeded in teaching young
Confucian scholars tricks to increase their memory skills, an important advantage in a nation with
countless laws and rituals that had to be learned by heart. What techniques did he emphasize in his
teachings?
MCCONKEY, JOHN, ED. (JONATHAN D., SPENCE, ED.)
The Anatomy of Memory. Oxford Univ. Press, 1996.
This text examines the literary context of art (and value) of memory in everyday life by exploring the
attitudes and observations of a number of ‘canon’ authors, including St. Augustine, Jung, Moore, Yeats,
Woolf, Proust, Forster, Baldwin, and Welty (etc.). Each author relies on memory to make sense of his or
her own life, to understand the phenomenal world, and to create a balance in his or her life. What authors
have provided the clearest and most valuable discussion of such techniques?
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LUTZ, JOHN.
Learning and Memory. Waveland Press; 2004 (2nd. ed.)
This work deals with current theories and science concerning memory at the both the mental and
physiological levels. The authors clarifies and updates current discussions concerning informationprocessing theory, background of behaviorism, neural basis of behavior, animal cognition, pattern
recognition, recovered/false memory debate, and concept structure. He also defines new research fields
and findings related to temporal coding hypothesis, configural learning, concept learning, animals’ "mental
clocks," eyewitness testimony, levels of processing, working memory, and transfer-appropriate
processing." Do any of these new research areas help create a productive understanding of memorization?
READING PLAN – SUMMER II, 2010
I will stagger the texts between single sources and anthologies, moving (roughly) from the classical to the
modern. I will also create a presentation web site for faculty and students with quotes, annotated
bibliography, and relevant destination sites.
WEEK: AUTHOR
1: Aristotle. On the Soul and Memory and Recollection.
2: Carruthers, and Ziolkowski, eds. The Medieval Art of Memory.
(including medieval commentaries on Aristotle’s treatise)
3: Small, Wax Tablets of the Mind: Cognitive Studies of Memory and Literacy in Classical Antiquity.
4: Ricci, The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci (Spence, ed.)
5: McConkey (Spence,.ed.), The Anatomy of Memory .
(comprehensive selections of excerpts from all periods)
6: Lutz, Learning and Memory.
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