Forgetting to Remember

Forgetting is central to processes of cultural memory. It allows for synthesis to occur so that "sites of memory" can form and be transported over time. Jenna Kemp conducts three case studies of instances of scribal activity, drawing from theories of cultural memory and intertextuality to theorize the formation of the Bible as a process of cultural memory. As scribes inherit texts, they receive a wide range of potential meanings; they activate and change the texts in ways that change those potentials, eliminating some and unleashing new ones. This process allows the texts to signify in new presents - the texts are remembered - and at the same time, it relies on the forgetting of earlier meanings. From this perspective, forgetting is not necessarily about loss. It is a generative force that makes new meaning possible. Without forgetting there is no memory.