Memory and Recalling in Shelagh Stephenson’s The Memory of Water

Year 2023, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 24 - 51, 30.03.2023

Kader Güzel

Abstract

Memory, through which knowledge, memories, and experiences are conserved in mind, is of great importance for the history of humankind. It is not a novel idea that the ability of memory constitutes the human identity and consciousness. Psychological studies, as well as philosophical assumptions, demonstrate the significance of recollection of past events in conducting life and constructing a healthy personality. In light of those preliminary observations, this paper focuses on the historical development of the subject of memory and turning points of memory studies. In addition to the chronological description of memory, how it is evaluated under the effect of historical development as well as the significance of it in the life cycle of human beings is likewise specified in this study. Expressing the thoughts and research of various thinkers and philosophers, this study represents the variable approaches to memory. While discussing Shelagh Stephenson’s award-winning play, The Memory of Water (1996), the central concern is to analyse how subjective and mutual memories have formed and influenced the characters’ lives. The play reveals the portrayal of the prominence of remembering and reminiscing, which are directly related to our constitution of self and well-being. In light of scientific research and the recollections of the characters, the significance of remembering and reminiscing actions that are directly related to our constitution of self and well-being is specified. The play stresses the paramount importance of communicating and sharing among the family members or within a social environment, as misattribution shows up as an imperfection of memory.

Keywords

Memory, Recalling, Shelagh Stephenson, The Memory of Water.

Shelagh Stephenson’ın The Memory of Water adlı Oyununda Hafıza ve Hatırlama

Abstract

Anıların, öğrenilmiş bilgilerin ve deneyimlerin zihinde tutulduğu alan olarak tasvir edilen bellek, insanlık tarihi boyunca büyük bir öneme sahip olmuştur. Belleğin insan benliğini ve bilincini yapılandırdığı düşüncesi yeni değildir. Psikolojik çalışmalar ve felsefi varsayımlar geçmiş yaşantılara ve olaylara yönelik birikimlerin bir hayatı sürdürme ve sağlıklı bir kişilik inşa etmede belleğin ve hatırlamanın önemini vurgulamışlardır. Bu ön gözlemler ışığında, bu makale bellek konusunun tarihsel gelişimine ve bellek çalışmalarının dönüm noktalarına odaklanmıştır. Belleğin kronolojik olarak tanımlanmasının yanı sıra, tarihsel gelişimin etkisi altında nasıl değerlendirildiği ve insanın yaşam döngüsündeki önemi belirtilmiştir. Çeşitli filozof ve düşünürlerin bellek konusundaki düşünce ve araştırmalarının tartışıldığı çalışmada bellek ile ilgili çeşitli yaklaşımlar incelenmiş ve Shelagh Stephenson’ın The Memory of Water adlı ödüllü oyunu analiz edilmiştir. Karakterlerin geçmişiyle ilgili bireysel ve ortak anılarının hayatlarını nasıl etkileyip şekillendirdiği ve cenaze töreninin çocuklukların travmatik anılarının canlanması üzerindeki etkileri incelenmiştir. Bu çalışmada anılarımızı hatırlamamızın nedenleri ön plana çıkarılmıştır. Bilimsel araştırmalar ve kız kardeşlerin anıları ışığında, benlik ve öznel iyi oluşla doğrudan ilgili olan eylemleri hatırlamanın ve anımsamanın önemi belirtilmiştir. Bireysel ve ortak anıların karakterlerin hayatının nasıl etkilediği ve şekillendirdiği tartışılmış, hatırlamanın benlik gelişimi üzerindeki önemli etkisi açığa çıkarılmıştır.

Keywords

Anahtar Kelimeler: Bellek, Hatırlama, Shelagh Stephenson, The Memory of Water.

References

• Bergson, H. (1911). Matter and Memory. (N. M. Paul & W. S. Palmer, Trans.). New York, The Macmillan Co.
• Bernerker, S. (2017). Memory and Truth. In S. Bernecker & K. Michaelian (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Memory (pp. 223-249). Routledge.
• Bernstein, D.M., & Loftus, E.F. (2009). How to Tell if a Particular Memory is True or False. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4, 370–74.
• Billingham, P. (2011). Shelagh Stephenson. In M. Middeke, P.P. Schnierer & Aleks Sierz (Eds.), The Methuan Drama Guide to Contemporary British Playwrights (pp. 466-486). UK, Methuen Drama.
• Bloch, D. (2007). Aristotle on Memory and Recollection. Boston, Brill.
• Casey, E. S. (1987). Remembering: A Phenomenological Study. USA, Indiana University Press.
• Coleman, J. (1992). Ancient and Medieval Memories Studies in the Reconstruction of the Past. UK, Cambridge University Press.
• Cox, M. J., & Paley, B. (2003). Understanding Families as Systems. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12(5), 193–196. doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.01259
• Crombag, H.F.M., Wagenaar, W.A., & Van Koppen, P.J. (1996). Crashing Memories and the Problem of ‘Source Monitoring’. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 10, 95–104.
• Draaisma, D. (2000). Metaphors of Memory: A History of Ideas about the Mind. (P. Vincent Trans.). UK, Cambridge University Press.
• Emoto, M. (2018). Suyun Gizli Mesajı. (S. Demirci, Çev.). İstanbul, Kuraldışı.
• Ferguson, F. (1996). Romantic Memory. Studies in Romanticism, 35(4), 509–533. https://doi.org/10.2307/25601195
• Fivush, R., Habermas, T., Waters, T. E.A., & Zaman, W. (2011). The Making of Autobiographical Memory: Intersections of Culture, Narratives and Identity. International Journal of Psychology, 46(5), 321-345.
• Halbwachs, M. (1980). The Collective Memory. (F.J. Ditter & V. Y. Ditter, Trans.). New York, Harper and Row.
• Hamilton, A. (1998). False Memory Syndrome and the Authority of Personal Memory-Claims: A Philosophical Perspective. Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology, 5, 283–97.
• Hansen, J. (2015). Theories of Memory and the Imaginative Force of Fiction. In Siobhan Kattago (Ed.), The Ashgate Research Companion to Memory Studies (pp. 197-208). ASHGATE.
• Hicking, A. (2009, 31 July). The Memory of Water. The Guardian, www.theguardian.com/stage/2009/jul/31/the-memory-of-water-review.
• Hume, D. (2009). A Treatise of Human Nature. London, The Floating Press.
• Hyman, I. E., Jr., & Kleinknecht, E. E. (1999). False Childhood Memories: Research, Theory, and Applications. In L. M. Williams, & V. L. Banyard (Eds.), Trauma and Memory (pp. 175-188). Sage.
• Kent S.R. (1968). Dissoi Logoi or Dialexeis. Mind, 77(306), 155-167.
• Klein, S.B. (2014). Autonoesis and Belief in a Personal Past: An Evolutionary Theory of Episodic Memory Indices. Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 5, 427–47.
• Koriat, A., Goldsmith, M., & Pansky, A. (2000). Towards a Psychology of Memory Accuracy. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, pp. 481–537.
• Locke, J. (1999). An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. USA, The Pennsylvania State University.
• Nietzsche, F. W. (1997). Untimely Meditations, (D. Breazale, Ed.), (R. J. Hollingdale, Trans.) UK, Cambridge University Press.
• Oakes, M., & Hyman, I. (2001). The Role of the Self in False Memory Creation. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 4 (2), 87-103.
• Plato. (1984). The Being of the Beautiful, Plato’s Theaetetus, Sophist, and Statesman. (S. Benardete, Trans.). USA, The University of Chicago Press. (Original work published ca 369 B.C.E.)
• Price, H. H. (1969). Thinking and Experience. USA, Harvard University Press. Ricoeur, P. (2004). Memory, History, Forgetting. (K. Blamey & David Pellauer, Trans.). USA, University of Chicago Press.
• Ross, M., & Sicoly, F. (1979). Egocentric Biases in Availability and Attribution. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 322-336.
• Schechtman, M. (1994). The Truth about Memory. Philosophical Psychology, 7, 3-18.
• Shoemaker, S. (1963). Self-Knowledge and Self-Identity. NY, Cornell University Press.
• Sprague, R. K. (1968). Dissoi Logoi or Dialexeis. Mind, New Series, 77(306), 155-167.
• Stephenson, S. (1996). The Memory of Water. Drama Online.
• Terdiman, R. (1993). Present Modernity and the Past Memory Crisis. NY, Cornell University Press.
• Wang, Q. (2016). Remembering the Self in Cultural Contexts: A Cultural Dynamic Theory of Autobiographical Memory. Memory Studies, 9(3), 295-304.
• Whitehead, A. (2006). Memory the New Critical Idiom. Routledge.