Prosthetic Memory

How do we interpret memory that is beyond our own experience?

Landsberg suggests that voluntary memory is nothing more than a prosthetic, a portable, interchangeable, piece of equipment. Unlike involuntary memory which is shaped by personal experience Landsberg attempts to prove that voluntary memory is shaped by society and "implanted" into an individual.
Some of her evidence is quite compelling, however a large portion of it is not true evidence in my opinion. A large section of her book is dedicated to an analysis of science fiction movies. She does NOT analyze their impact on society but ANALYZES the movie an a very "in universe" style. She implies that these fictional movies are somehow a basis for the real design of memory.
In others it appears that she has suspended her "seichel" (street smarts) and thinks that she is being gassed within the Holocaust Memorial Museum. The idea that anyone could think that would occur is just ludicrous, for one thing, the security guard would not have been standing under the vent on his walkie talkie and the cattle car doors would have been closed.
I also disagree with her analysis of putting us in the "moment" of the Holocaust at that museum. One of her examples is the "shoe room" where thousands of shoes from gassed inmates at one particular camp are just piled on the floor. As you walk through that room you do not walk through the shoes but over them, putting you not in the moment, but in the present, looking back. to make sure that "Never Again" will the Holocaust happen. To throw a further wrench in her story I suggest she over-generalizes the impact of the Holocaust, and completely leaves out the battles between minority groups over "Warring Holocausts" (Slavery vs. the Shoah)
This leads me to another point about her book in general. While she seems to lament the idea of a collective memory, she does not specify any of the uses that collective memory can serve (both positive and negative). When she discusses the Holocaust not once does she use the phrase "Never Again" which is the main takeaway from Holocaust memory in America (especially in Novick's book). The same holds true for the rest of the book.


Winter's article also looks at the reflection on "collective memory" but looks specifically at how the state shapes this memory. His examples are much more concrete and understandable than those presented by Landsberg. His observations on how state influence shapes remembrance of the Battle of the Somme is interesting. The idea that memory commemoration must be positive (as the memory itself often isn't) is an interesting concept as a way to combat PTSD and other such situations.