Thoughts on Things Forgotten : Recharging the Collective Memory Banks

We forget all kinds of things, trivial and important ones; and not just things but also topics and techniques, and we forget in different ways. Inconvenient as it is to forget your to-do list, forgetting grave political factors can lead to repeating the same mistakes. Foolish as it is to let proven solutions fall by the wayside, repression, both on a personal as on a political level, will lead to catastrophe. This book enumerates many things already forgotten (or in the process of being forgotten) and maps the tortuous paths of relinquishing useful ways of doing things. By analyzing «forgetting» in the light of historical context and psychological necessity, this study offers counter-strategies to the loss of social memory and stresses the benefits of social recollection.

Georg Schmid was Professor at the University of Salzburg. His areas of research include modern and contemporary history, theory of history, semiology, transport, film.

Sigrid Schmid-Bortenschlager was Professor at the University of Salzburg. Her research interests include modern, experimental, comparative literature, women writers, semiology.