ABSTRACT
The universe of reminiscence investigation is simultaneously exploding and imploding. Researchers and practitioners are looking both outside their immediate areas, seeking connections to related domains of work such as narratives and autobiographical memory, and also within the area to examine more closely fundamental issues of concept definition, psychometrics, and how reminiscence differs from other forms of memorial discourse. As Butler illustrates in the Foreword, the area has grown in many ways, emerging from its clinical roots to inform and be informed by other mainstream academic disciplines. This is an exciting, challenging, and sometimes frustrating time for some, as this growth and divergence occur prior to the resolution of some thorny and persistent methodological and conceptual problems.
