In Praise of Forgetting

David Rieff

Published by Yale University Press 2016

In Praise of Forgetting

Historical Memory and Its Ironies

David Rieff

https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300186666

Overview
Contents

About this book

A leading contrarian thinker explores the ethical paradox at the heart of history's wounds

The conventional wisdom about historical memory is summed up in George Santayana’s celebrated phrase, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Today, the consensus that it is moral to remember, immoral to forget, is nearly absolute. And yet is this right?

David Rieff, an independent writer who has reported on bloody conflicts in Africa, the Balkans, and Central Asia, insists that things are not so simple. He poses hard questions about whether remembrance ever truly has, or indeed ever could, “inoculate” the present against repeating the crimes of the past. He argues that rubbing raw historical wounds—whether self-inflicted or imposed by outside forces—neither remedies injustice nor confers reconciliation. If he is right, then historical memory is not a moral imperative but rather a moral option—sometimes called for, sometimes not. Collective remembrance can be toxic. Sometimes, Rieff concludes, it may be more moral to forget.

Ranging widely across some of the defining conflicts of modern times—the Irish Troubles and the Easter Uprising of 1916, the white settlement of Australia, the American Civil War, the Balkan wars, the Holocaust, and 9/11—Rieff presents a pellucid examination of the uses and abuses of historical memory. His contentious, brilliant, and elegant essay is an indispensable work of moral philosophy.

Author information

David Rieff is the author of many books, including, most recently, The Reproach of Hunger: Food, Justice, and Money in the 21st Century. He lives in New York City.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
One. Footprints in the Sands of Time, and All That Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Two. Must We Deform the Past in Order to Preserve It? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	22
Three. What Is Collective Memory Actually Good For? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	43
Four. The Victory of Memory over History Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	60
Five. Forgiveness and Forgetting Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	76
Six. The Memory of Wounds and Other Safe Harbors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	94
Seven. Amor Fati Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
Eight. Against Remembrance Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127

Language: English
Publisher: Yale University Press
Pages
- Main content: 160

eBook

Published: May 10, 2016
ISBN: 9780300186666