REMEMBER THIS, REMEMBER THAT

"I have always thought that the goal of college courses was not necessarily to learn rote lists of things but to develop my skills as a writer, reader, and thinker" (Copious Kyle). 



I could not agree more with this sentiment. Between the three different majors I have switched between over the course of my college career, I always find myself coming away from each semester not necessarily with an abundance of newfound knowledge, but a greater expansion of my mental abilities. In many ways, the human brain is similar to an automobile; different parts can be swapped out, new parts can be brought in, all with the same goal of making the car faster. Eventually however, all cars  end up in the junk yard. The brain differs in that its potential for expansion and improvement is endless. While some people may have more enhanced skills in certain ways of thinking, everyone has the potential to improve.


I have always thought of myself to have a poor memory. I used to have difficulty remembering information for exams, phone numbers, names, etc. What this class has taught me is that any memory can be improved with the proper type of training. The visuality and spatial awareness that is so crucial to our mental programming, that all of the authors we have read elaborate on, is truly enlightening. The first things I memorized for this class were Foer's 15 items, and I was blown away by how quickly it was accomplished by using the beautiful simplicity of the memory theater. At first constructing imagery to place in theaters was difficult and time consuming, but similar to any skill I found that it got exponentially easier with practice. I found that even poetry can be easily mastered using mnemonic techniques. Foer and many others claim that poetry is most easily mastered by rote, but I strongly disagree. It does not take exceptional intelligence to create imagery for verse, but simply the ability to be flexible and creative. When constructing  imagery around lines of poetry, the biggest challenge I faced was that I got too hung up on  trying to match the perfect image with every line. This is simply not realistic. To efficiently use a memory theater for this purpose, I discovered that I had to allow myself to adapt quickly during the mental walk-throughs of my theaters. In Kubla Kahn for example, I did not have time to stray from the route I was visualizing to find something perfectly suitable for the line "So twice five miles of fertile ground, with walls and towers were girdled round", so I made something work. In my mind I was in my parents house in front of the pool table at that point in the poem, so I imagined the top of the pool table piled high with dark, rich, recently plowed soil. As for the walls and towers, the cue stand next to the table was transformed into a classical Greek tower with the cues serving as the pillars. I could go on and on explaining the inner workings of my various palaces, but I'm afraid that it would consume dozens of pages.


When I was brainstorming concepts for my musey room, I had trouble coming up with an idea that would effectively encompass what I have learned from this course. I realized that it would be impossible to give anyone a visual glimpse into my newfound memory systems, due to their grotesquely abstract complexities that make them so uniquely memorable. The reason that they cannot be explained to another person is that they are so incredibly visual. This is largely a result of the practicality of rehearsing poetry aloud. Due to people thinking you're crazy, and limited alone time, I had to be able to utilize silence during the construction of my memory theaters. This is a difficulty I ran into while learning Kubla Kahn. To accommodate for the restraints presented, I created imagery for the entire poem without speaking a single word. Before I ever practiced the poem in length for the first time, I had detailed images constructed in my mind. I did almost all of my memory training this semester on the third floor of the library, in the quiet section, in total silence. This is only possible when using places so familiar to me, that it is second nature to walk through them in my mind, and remember every minute detail.



 For some time now I have thought about the similarities between the Globe Theater and Camillo's memory palace. While Camillo intended his building to be a tool used to enhance individual memory, I see no reason why this could not be utilized by performers. Who knows, maybe Renaissance actors practiced their lines in the the empty globe, using the segregated sections of seating as loci for storing multiple memory palaces. The model I presented to the class is a hybrid of these two structures. It is a design in which the orator can utilize the spatial nature of his memory to trigger multiple sections of dialogue from different, emotionally charged core images he/she has placed around the theater. While I doubt that my design will be published in any groundbreaking architecture journals, I do think that the concept could be effectively utilized by any type of performance oriented structure.



It has been my experience that college is a give and take relationship. For every bit of effort that you put in, you take out a much larger reward. Nowhere is this more evident than in the study of literature. As Megan Mother of the Muses says in her blog, people frequently question the validity of what we study, and are completely out of the loop as to what benefits could possibly be reaped from an English degree. Jennifer of the Falling Waters believes that the study of literature is a process of discovery and personal growth. As a convert to the program, I like to think of myself as evidence to this theory. In my previous studies, I treated school as secondary to first tracks and tight lines. Midway through my university career, I basically stumbled into literature. A broken collar bone and newly found free time fostered a fervor to expand my knowledge that I had never previously experienced. People often ask how horrible my two clavicle surgeries were, and I startle them by replying that it was the best thing that ever happened to me. While I still cherish my time in the mountains, two trips to the ER in the span of 3 months served as a serious reality check. Your body can only go so hard for so long, but the mind is limitless. It was not  the literature itself that served as the catalyst for the growth I experienced, but it is the skills I gained, the people I have met, and the discoveries I have made about myself along the way that make me so grateful for my shoulder's violent clash with terra firma. If I ever lose motivation in my studies, all I have to do is reach up and feel the screws lining the top of the metal plate that sits just beneath the surface my skin, and I am reminded to stay focused. 

If I were to walk into the Hauf Brau 30 years from now, and run into Copious Kyle, it would take a minute for us to recognize each other. The aging effects of time would have weathered our faces, we would no longer have the energy of youth about us, but eventually we would recognize one another. We might not recall who Joshua Foer was, or what Giordano Bruno theorized about; but I would imagine that we would remember our epithets, perhaps a few funny stories from that class we had long ago back in our college days. I know for certain however, that we would remember Michael Sexson.

If there were such a thing as a wizard of the English department, Dr. Sexson would fill that role. I have never met someone that can so effortlessly recall passages of poetry, literature, and song at the drop of a hat. He has never directly said so, but I think he would agree with my give and take theory. To me anyways, that is how his classes work. If you so desire, you can simply coast through them and get by with minimal effort. On the other hand, you can challenge yourself to become truly absorbed in the material, and come out on the other side an improved scholar. We have excellent examples of that within our class; from Jenny's novel, to Nick's sock-knocking off blog entries, to Cameron's fascination with learning the details of scripture, there are people leading the charge of self-powered learning right amongst our midst.

Thank you Dr. Sexson, for fostering the growth of your students in yet another unforgettable class.

MUSEY ROOMS: DAY 4

The one and only Ghetto Prophet in action

Mother of the Muses: Boxes within boxes

Cassidy Euterpe

and the impressive layout of her memory systems

Memory Theater 2.0

MUSEY ROOMS: DAY 3

Nate the Enigma

Once upon a Jenga...

Breanna of the Fidgeting Wales

Add caption

Copious Kyle

... and a bar full of memories

Swift Footed Seth

...and his alcoholic animals

The Man Behind the Curtain: Musey Mansion

MUSEY ROOMS: DAY 2

Levi's 3D Musey Room

Levi of the Lost Marbles: Memory in action

Tia of the Crawling Ants: Memory sans gravity

Quentin the Inquisitor...

... and his well read brain

Cameron the Terminator: Sketched Memory

Jennifer the Charmed: A purse full of memories

Grace the Epithet-less: Household Memories

MUSEY ROOMS: DAY 1

Louie of the Windy Woods: Childhood Memory Palace

Atypical Angela: Memory Slot Machine

Jennifer of the Falling Waters: Mikelby Sharp and the Memory Palace

Soft Spoken Spencer ...

... and his Kubla Kahn inspired round of golf

Sweet & Spicy Shelby: A College Experience through the lens of Sexson classes

SWIFT FOOTED COMPLEMENTARITY

GHETTO PROPHET & THE OTHER MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN

SOFT SPOKEN: BOUNDARIES

GROUP 1 - MAPS

ONG, in conclusion

"Writing introduces division and alienation, but a higher unity as well. It intensifies the sense of self and fosters more conscious interaction between persons. Writing is consciousness raising" (Ong 175).

In the final chapter of Orality and Literacy Walter Ong efficiently summarizes the arguments made previously in the text, and also uses that information to delineate between the modern schools of thought in regards to "the word".

Throughout his book Ong has explored the ways in which Orality has influenced literacy; and in his final chapter he informs the reader of the timing and various degrees this has occurred in literary history. His evidence lies in written texts, and the various degrees to which those texts reflect the orality of the culture at that time. He asserts that most writers during the medieval era "continued the classical practice of writing their literary works to be read aloud", based upon their "always rhetorical style as well as the nature of plot and characterization" (154-5). He states that oral residue lingers in the literature of the Renaissance to a large degree, and does not see a true decline until the age of Romanticism in the late 18th century. The most effective way to summarize this shift in authorial thought, is that writers in the lingering oral culture wrote for an audience (i.e. they meant for their work to be read aloud), while writers of the literary tradition write for an objectified hypotheses. 

As a student of literature, I found the the discussion of texts as isolated objects to be the most engaging section of this chapter. I have had several classes that have debated the extent to which authorial intent should be considered while conducting literary analysis, and it seems to be a highly controversial issue. According to the prevailing modern school of New Criticism, texts should be considered as separate entities from their authors, or "verbal icons" (157).  In a similar vein of thought, the school of Russian Formalism tends to "minimize or eliminate from criticism any concern with the poem's 'message', 'sources', 'history', or relationship to the biography of its author" (158). This is where oral and literate cultures differ, orators do not have the luxury of isolating themselves from their work. I personally enjoy studying texts in an iconic fashion, it tends to simplify the process when one needs to make an argument in the academic environment. However, I do recognize that this is not always possible, and many texts cannot be understood outside of their time period without some background knowledge. But regardless of thoughts on authorial intent, there is no denying that orality continues to influence interiorized thought, in its various forms. 

No matter how far we progress into the typographic world, there will always be some lingering oral residue. Orality and literacy are not separate from each other, but two parts that form a whole. As father Ong concludes in his book,

"Orality-literacy dynamics enter integrally into the modern evolution of consciousness toward both greater interiorization and greater openness" (176).  

SUBLIMINAL MEMORIZING

"We must assiduously remember the invisible joys of paradise and the eternal torments of hell"
                                                                                       - Bocompagno (Yates 93)

Memory Palaces - Heaven and Hell

In the fourth chapter of Art of Memory, Yates explores the history of imagery development during the medieval era. I found this to be the most engaging chapter we have read thus far (in either Yates or Ong) because of the encompassing nature of her discussion on memorable imagery within the religious context.  Yates says "later memory treatises in the scholastic tradition usually include remembering Paradise and Hell, frequently with diagrams of those places, as belonging to artificial memory"(94), proposing that post medieval academic work on mnemonic techniques serves as evidence for the use of memory palaces in the religious setting. She adds, "This introduces the novel idea that the places of Hell, varied in accordance with the nature of sins punished in them, could be regarded as variegated memory loci" (94).

What I gathered from Yates' discourse on the matter is that learned religious men of the medieval era used visual cues as a way to supplement their teachings. After reflection upon that notion, its logic becomes more and more apparent. During the age of scholasticism, the foundations of Christian doctrine remained essentially the same, but they became much more complex. This was particularly true in regards to the virtue-vice scheme which was made famous in the era's literature (i.e. morality plays). Due to this increase in information,

 "The moral man who wished to choose the path of virtue, whilst also remembering and avoiding vice, had more to imprint on his memory than earlier and simpler times" (84).

As a result, memory techniques became necessary as a means to remember the era's new database of theological knowledge. It was during this era that the Dominican Order of the Preachers was founded, whose main object was to deliver powerful sermons that would lure audiences into religious obedience through increasing their memory. It was during said oratories that the "medieval transformation of the artificial memory would have been chiefly used" (85). The most effective method that the preacher would have used would be to clearly delineate the attributes of virtue and vice and reinforce the repercussions of choosing either path.

 Nardo de Cione, Florence Chapel, 14th century

 It is easy for the audiences of religious sermons to blend information together due to their monotonous nature when compared to the grotesque, carnal imagery that is so easily remembered by the human mind. As Thomas Aquinas cogently explains, "spiritual and simple intentions slip easily from the soul unless they are linked with certain corporeal similitudes" (83). Religious orators of the medieval era were able to enhance the power of their teachings by employing visual mnemonic techniques as originally described in the classical text, Ad Herennium, and later expounded by the great "Professors of Memory" (102). Clear, well-lit memory theaters of Heaven and Hell were laid out for sermon audiences, and memorable images of the consequences for disobedience were strategically placed in the houses of worship.

PAPERBACK WRITER

"By separating the knower from the known, writing makes possible increasingly articulate introspectivity, opening the psyche as never before not only to the external objective world quite distinct from itself but also to the interior self against whom the objective world is set" (Ong 104).

This quote resonated with me because it is the best description I have found of what is accomplished through the chirographic/typographic process. Oftentimes, I learn more about myself by examining my own writing than any other method.This is especially true if I venture beyond the constraints of academic discourse, into the realm of creativity where it is possible to outrun the critic of my own self-conscious psyche. When speaking, one is generally limited to the expression of the ideologies and characteristics hardwired into their brains. Through the process of writing, the individual is enabled to isolate their thoughts as discrete items to be reflected upon and improved.

As Jennifer of the Falling Waters mentions in her blog, Plato was against writing because of its threat to the structural integrity of the human mind. Taking that notion into regard, I concluded noted that orality aids literacy, yet literacy does not hinder orality. When memorizing my 51 lines of Shakespeare, I found that the only way to get images to truly stick was to come up with grotesque, abstract, and totally unrealistic imagery (i.e., a worm man squeezing out of a lotion bottle). In retrospect, I do not know if it would be possible to come up with such abstract imagery if one's mind was not sharpened by the critical skills of the literate world. Ong mentioned earlier in his book that those living in truly oral cultures have no use for abstract concepts outside the realm of practicality. Could the feral children discussed in Megan's blog imagine such impractical concepts in a world revolving around how to hunt down their next meal?

Beyond the more its obvious benefits (having a literature), literacy also aids our orality. If used correctly, the skills learned through our own writing can help us to become better masters of oral rhetoric.

DIVINE MEMORY

"The soul's remarkable power of remembering things and words is proof of its divinity"  
(Yates 45)

In class yesterday Dr. Sexson explained why our memories make up our very being, and to take them away would equate with murder. According to Yates, Cicero held the "Platonic and Pythagorean position that the soul is immortal and of divine origin" (44), and that the soul is largely based upon its ability to remember. At this point in the text Yates explores the ways in which religion and memory are intertwined, an idea that I find particularly interesting.

As members of a literate society, it is difficult to think of religion without thinking of sacred texts, especially if one has been raised in congregations based upon the Lutheran doctrine of "the word alone". Many modern religious sects advocate devout individual study of the Bible. This contrasts to older religious gatherings based upon the tradition of oral sermons as a means of enlightenment. How do the different forms of study affect worshippers? As Father Ong says, "Oral communication unites people in groups. Writing and reading are solitary activities that throw the psyche back on itself" (68). While studying Yates and Ong concurrently, the reader is prompted to reflect upon the effectiveness and implications of the written vs. the spoken word. Although modern Christianity is based upon textual evidence, "God is thought of as 'speaking' to human beings, not as writing to them" (74). Are people more empowered by the strengthening of their memories through the oral tradition or by the study of literature and expanding their recollective (as separate from memory) abilities? Is one of the two traditions superior to the other, or is it a matter of them being additive and aggregative vs. subordinative and analytic?

Ong presents a balanced view,

"without writing, human consciousness cannot achieve its fuller potentials, cannot produce other beautiful and powerful creations. In this sense, orality needs to produce and is destined to produce writing" (14).

According to this logic, it is not necessary to take either form to extremes, because they complement each other. If one is to be a true scholar of the modern world, be it religious or academic, it is advantageous to become well versed in both traditions. The oral tradition promotes mental processes that are integral to our past, while the exploration of literature serves as a catalyst for the development of our future.

I was not raised in a very religious setting, so I am curious to hear if anyone in the class who was has any thoughts on the effects of the written vs. the spoken word in the case of sacred texts...

SOCIOLOGY OF RHETORIC

"Thus, as in most cases, art originates from experience" (Yates 22).

After completing Foer's entertaining narrative of his own experience with memory training, it is interesting to read the more academic oriented Art of Memory. I just finished the first chapter, in which Yates introduces the classical foundations of the art. Both authors describe the importance of the Rhetorica Ad Herennium, the oldest surviving Latin book on Rhetoric. The author considers memory to be an essential part of the effective orator's arsenal, "Now let us turn to the treasure-house of inventions, the custodian of all parts of rhetoric, memory" (Yates 5).

At the time of its publication, oratory was viewed by many as a powerful political tool that should be kept in the possession of the Greek-speaking upper classes. By publishing the text in Latin, the unknown author contributed to what could be considered a liberal-populist movement. After doing some research in Google scholar, I ran into an interesting piece by Patrick Sinclair of Northwestern University, in which he explores the ways in which the text serves as an "opportunity for self-invention for the would-be statesman"(561). He asserts that if a lower-class citizen could emulate the language of his superiors, then he would be on his way to overcoming social disadvantage and adopting the views traditionally canonical to them. According to Sinclair's analysis, the main interest of the author was in judicial oratory, where "a well-born and well-connected Roman could win the sort of distinction and form the sort of social alliances necessary for realizing his social and political ambitions"(563).

Roman orators could "best others by cleverly manipulating general, shared concepts"(568), similar to the way modern mental athletes win championships by designing new memory systems. It appears as though in classical Roman society, a strong memory was an essential tool to gaining political and social prestige. Unfortunately for Foer, this is not the case in today's society. In a world where we can easily lean on external memory crutches, one gains little recognition for winning memory championships. However, Foer is able to realize that

"memory training is not just for the sake of performing party tricks; it's about nurturing something       profoundly and essentially human" (270).

We have outrun our own programming with the advances of modern technology. Our brains are hardwired to support powerful recollection systems based off of spatial data, which is why the memory palace is such an effective tool for storing large amounts of information. The hardware is present, all one needs to do is install the software to run it. There is no longer the motivation of advancement to sustain our memory training, "But in the ancient world, devoid of printing, without paper for note-taking or on which to type lectures, the trained memory was of vital importance" (Yates 4). What if this trend advances to the point that we rely solely on external memory storage, and that spider-web breaks down?


Sincalir, Patrick. The Sententia in Rhetorica ad Herennium: A Study in the Sociology of Rhetoric. The American Journal of Philogy, Vol. 114. p. 561-580. 1993.

MEMORY LANE

"a wine that talks: That's unique. It's a memory without rivals". (Foer 102)

I am roughly halfway finished with Moonwalking with Einstein, and thus far I have found it to be very engaging. The way in which Foer blends hard fact with entertaining narrative results in an informative, yet easy to read text. The most intriguing argument that I have come across so far is his explanation of the fact that the human brain is hardwired to analyze the world around us spatially, and as a result any fact can be made more memorable by "engaging one's spatial memory in the act of remembering". 

This argument struck home, as I have always though of myself as a visual learner. I applied the technique to the memorization of the 9 muses, and was pleasantly surprised with the results. By constructing my own memory palace, I was able to associate each muse with an image that reflected her characteristics. For example, Terpsichore the dancer is located in a ballroom, and Calliope is sitting on top of a mountain peak reciting her epic poetry. The image I created was quite simple really, it is just a hallway of doors, but it is the vivid characteristics of each muse that makes each memory truly stick. Within a few minutes, I was able to recall the all of the muses by visualizing the walk through my first memory palace.