The Memory Network

从柏拉图的蜡碑和弗洛伊德对“神秘书写本”的探索，到当代数字档案馆的隐喻，我们对记忆的理解往往受到技术模型的影响。但近年来，通过令人兴奋的科学突破，这种理解得到了显著加强。在艺术和人文领域工作的作家、评论家和学者现在正在转向生物科学、心理学、数学和计算机科学领域的新思维方式，以重新考虑文学叙事中的个人和集体记忆。与此同时，许多科学家认识到通过小说和人文方法论提供的创造性想法以及伦理和解释学观点的好处。记忆网络(MN)将研究人员、作家和组织聚集在一起，以激发和推动关于记忆的原创思维方式。许多当代重要作家已经与科学展开了充满活力的对话，并为MN的活动提供了关键的起点：例如，伊恩·麦克尤恩和威尔·赛尔夫在《周六》(2005年)和《戴夫之书》(2006)上对神经科学的研究；玛格丽特·阿特伍德和石黑一夫关于死后人类记忆影响的思考；特里·普拉切特对其阿尔茨海默氏症写作的影响的探索；以及哈尼夫·久里希对了解物质和精神如何相关的兴趣。该网络的雄心之一是发展和培育一个对记忆研究的跨学科方法感兴趣的思想家社区，愿意相互交流，也愿意与普通公众交流。它还将激发新的创造性工作，我们特别热衷于让在世的作家积极参与这个社区及其各种辩论。我们将鼓励学术界、创意作家艺术家和公众之间开展对话。将通过多种方式鼓励互动。首先，在最初的名为“记忆的未来”的研讨会(由惠康信托基金资助)之后，MN将在该计划的第一年举办一系列免费讲座、记忆实验、小组讨论和互动研讨会。这些活动将涉及科学和心理地理学、记忆、食物和现象学、记忆和新媒体、记忆和预测、人类和人工智能记忆以及写作、衰老和遗忘等主题。一个名为“记忆库”的网站将支持核心成员与公众之间的讨论和通信，以应对这些事件。最后，MN将出版两部合作作品：一份名为《记忆的未来：新千年的笔记》的《宣言》，以及一本编辑过的散文集，暂时名为《记忆、文学和科学》。Memory Network以文学研究为核心，其大多数初始成员都在英语系中，对记忆和叙事有既定或新兴的研究兴趣。此外，来自其他学科的关键研究人员将作为活跃成员或以咨询身份加入。目前，该网络主要由来自英国和北美的贡献者组成，但其最后阶段的另一个目标是在更广泛的背景下批判性地将这些跨学科调查置于欧洲和全球的重点，最终召开一次重要的国际会议。

From Plato's wax tablet and Freud's exploration of the 'mystic writing pad' to contemporary metaphors of digital archives, our understanding of memory has often been shaped by technological models. But in recent years, this understanding has been significantly enhanced through exciting scientific breakthroughs. Writers, critics and academics working in the arts and humanities are now turning to new ways of thinking within biosciences, psychology, mathematics, and computer science to reconsider individual and collective memory in literary narratives. At the same time, many scientists acknowledge the benefits of engaging with creative ideas and the ethical and hermeneutic perspectives offered through fiction and humanities methodologies. The Memory Network (MN) brings together researchers, authors and organisations to provoke and fuel original ways of thinking about memory. Many important contemporary writers are already in a vibrant dialogue with science and offer crucial starting points for the MN's activity: for example, Ian McEwan's and Will Self's research into neuroscience for Saturday (2005) and The Book of Dave (2006); Margaret Atwood's and Kazuo Ishiguro's thinking about the impact of 'the posthuman' upon human memory; Terry Pratchett's quest to understand the effect on his writing of progressive Alzheimer's; and Hanif Kureishi's interest in understanding how matter and mind are related. One of the Network's ambitions is to grow and nurture a community of thinkers interested in cross-disciplinary approaches to memory studies, open to communicating with each other and with the general public. It will also stimulate new creative work and we are particularly keen to actively involve living writers in this community and its various debates. We will encourage a dialogue to develop between the academic community, creative writers and artists, and the general public. Interaction will be encouraged in a number of ways. Firstly, and following an initial symposium called 'The Future of Memory' (funded by the Wellcome Trust), the MN will run a series of free lectures, memory experiments, panel discussions and interactive workshops throughout the first year of the scheme. These events will tackle topics including science and psychogeography, memory, food and phenomenology, memory and new media, memory and prediction, human and artificial intelligence memory, and writing, aging and forgetting. A website called the 'Memory Repository' will support discussion and correspondence between Core Members and the general public in response to these events. Finally, the MN will publish two collaborative works: a 'manifesto' called The Future of Memory: Notes for the New Millennium and an edited collection of essays provisionally titled Memory, Literature and Science.The Memory Network has literary studies at its core, and most of its initial members are based in English departments with an established or emerging research interest in memory and narrative. In addition, key researchers from other disciplines will join as active members or in an advisory capacity. At present the Network is primarily based in contributors from the UK and North America, but an additional aim for its final phase is to critically situate these interdisciplinary investigations in wider contexts with a European and global emphasis, culminating in a major international conference.