Being her own biographer – Su Meck’s memoir I Forgot to Remember and the fallibility of memory from the perspective of neuroscience and cognitive psychology
Being her own biographer – Su Meck’s memoir I Forgot to Remember and the fallibility of memory from the perspective of neuroscience and cognitive psychology

Summary/Abstract: Su Meck’s memoir relates her loss of memory as a result of the brain injury that she suffered when a kitchen fan fell on her head. Meck never recovered her memories from before the incident, and for some time after it she was also unable to form any new memories. In this dramatic account of the loss of memory, Meck tries to understand her experiences and to rebuild her sense of self. I describe the dire consequences of such a total memory failure, especially to our sense of self. However, I also argue that this memoir is about the fallibility of memory in general, not only in such an extreme case as the brain injury. Trying to reconstruct her story, Meck discovers that others have either incomplete or conflicting stories to tell her. I Forgot to Remember brings the transient and biased nature of our own memories into sharp focus. However, Meck’s narrative not only exposes the limitation of our memory and highlights its importance to our sense of self but also brings to light the fluid boundaries of various life writing genres and reveals the pitfalls of placing too much emphasis on memory in relation to self.

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