Description
Book SynopsisNow available to an English-speaking audience, this book presents a groundbreaking theoretical analysis of memory, identity and culture. Dr Assmann defines two theoretical concepts of cultural memory and applies this theoretical framework to case studies of four specific cultures, concluding that memory can be a powerful and dynamic tool in shaping culture.
Trade Review'Jan Assmann's work on cultural memory is essential for notions of memory and memorialization. I know of no modern scholarly study on collective memory and aspects relating to it, from Thucydides to modern Israel, from Genesis to modern Germany, that has not in some form drawn on Jan Assmann's theories on the relation between collective and cultural memory. In short, this book is an absolute classic, and will be invaluable to English-speaking scholars.' Susanna Elm, University of California, Berkeley
'More than canonical since its original publication in Germany, Cultural Memory and Early Civilization is one of the most important works of cultural analysis of the past two decades. Spanning cultural and media studies, sociology, ancient history, and numerous other fields, it has already underwritten volumes of research and theory in Europe. Its translation was long awaited, and will surely transform discourse in Anglophone scholarship as well. It is a genuine tour-de-force.' Jeffrey Olick, University of Virginia
'Fantastically readable …' The Times Higher Education Supplement
Table of ContentsIntroduction; Part I. The Theoretical Basis: 1. Memory culture; 2. Written culture; 3. Cultural identity and political imagination; Part II. Case Studies: 4. Egypt; 5. Israel and the invention of religion; 6. The birth of history from the spirit of the law; 7. Greece and disciplined thinking; Cultural memory: a summary.
