Falsification of Memory
May 15th, 2023
First things first — it is a very good book, an easy read, and a markedly different fare from the Anglophonic sci-fi novels I usually read. It is dated, of course, which is normal for a book written almost sixty years ago, but less so than plenty of other books in that genre from the 60s and 70s, and even 80s. The book and the introduction make a very curious point — did J.K Rowling read this book before getting an idea for the Harry Potter universe? And as preposterous as it might seem — there is something to be said about using and treating magic as just a part of normal human behavior and experience, as long as we treat it not as something abnormal but as a diversity that makes our world colorful and interesting.
But that is not my point today —
I read this book about fifteen years ago. I liked it and decided last week to re-read it because I needed something pleasant and easy to read — since the few previous books I read were really demanding intellectually. Of course, I didn't remember many details of this book, but I had the gist of the plot. Except when I read this book again — nothing I read matched what I remember. The premise was familiar, but all the particulars were not. Not even close to what was in my memory. And that book has a very particular storyline, something quite out of the ordinary and something that I would expect to remember. And there was nothing, not even one correct recollection…
How much can we rely on our memories? Time after time, I let myself be caught unaware when comparing what I remember to reality. And I can catch others — especially family — when they remember or reminisce about something that I know happened in a different way. And here it is not my memory that is wrong, my remembering can be corroborated by others. We have our memories, developed and stored for a recall that, for the most part, can be wrong. And we cherish our memories or build some understanding of the world or of ourselves from what we remember of the past. That makes it so difficult to admit that what we remember can be false. And in most cases — we will never face reality but stick to comfortable but imaginary recollections of the past.
