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Place and Memory: Revisiting the Past Self Through Autobiographical Memory

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Abstract

Place is everywhere as geography, location, territory, and landscape permeates everyday encounter. In contrast, memory is embedded in the physical setting as the burgeoning narratives of cities. In recent instances, literary settings of novels and characters are interpretations of actual life events. An immigrant from New York City returns to Lagos after a long period in Teju Cole’s Every Day is for the Thief (2007) and (2014) investigates the correlation of the past self within the present state of the setting. Exploring interrelated memories and places to revisit the sense of self, the present study aims to analyse how autobiographical memory distinguishes personal memory from social events and defines place attachment and identity in society. This article also explores the lack of conformity to the tendency to find the past self in different time and spatial aspects through which this research tries to bridge the past with the present using narrators’ autobiographical memories.

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Funding

Nirmal Kumar M, acknowledges the financial support rendered by Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) by the award of Centrally Administered Full-Term Doctoral Fellowship. [File No. RFD/2022-23/GEN/GEOG/296].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English and Foreign Languages, College of Engineering & Technology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Tamil Nadu, 603203, India

    Nirmal Kumar M & L. Kavitha Nair

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  1. Nirmal Kumar M
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  2. L. Kavitha Nair
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The manuscript was collaboratively constructed by Mr. Nirmal Kumar M under the expertise of Dr. L. Kavitha Nair, with both contributors sharing equal responsibility for the work.

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Correspondence to Nirmal Kumar M.

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M, N.K., Nair, L.K. Place and Memory: Revisiting the Past Self Through Autobiographical Memory. Integr. psych. behav. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-024-09823-1

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