Subject: (urth) art of memory

From: Matthew Freestone <matthew at matthewf.demon.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 04 Apr 1998 12:32:02 +0000

[Posted from URTH, a mailing list about Gene Wolfe's New Sun and other works]

>From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>

>Weer's house also recalls the old (medieval?) technique of memory by
>constructing a mental "castle" and, in the mind's eye, placing each thing
>or event you want to remember in a seperate room of your castle, using
>images to represent what you want to remember.  
The techniques of artificial memory are much older than the middle ages.
In fact, Simonides, in the Soldier books, was one of the great
practitioners of the art in classical times. 
Frances Yates' book "The Art of Memory" is a fascinating history of the
subject. It crops up in John Crowley's "AEgypt", and "Little, Big" too.

Best,
--                              II         |\      _,,,---,,_
Matt Freestone                  II    zzz. /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_.
matthew at matthewf.demon.co.uk    II        |,4-  ) )-,_. ,\ (  `'-'
www.matthewf.demon.co.uk/       II       '---''(_/--'  `-'\_)

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/