ABSTRACT
The title of this essay draws attention to some of the characteristics of memory in our time. Firstly, the plural ‘memories’ alludes to the multiplicity of cultures and languages which flows from the diaspora of peoples throughout the world today, a multiplicity which we hope will come to incorporate a full sense of mutual respect, so that multiculturalism, multilingualism and multiracialism are not just empty words. The title also alludes to the multiplicity of layers in any process of representation, which cannot be exhausted by the old metaphor of a dual relationship between reality and its image—and memory is above all a form of representation. Secondly, although the term ‘silence’ is an ambivalent one, we can start by taking it literally to indicate what is pre- and post-sound, particularly the area around the word, the space where speech is located. Thirdly, ‘oblivion’ is a word chosen on the basis of the assonance with my language, Italian, where ‘oblio’ is a word in common use, as ‘forgetting’ is in English. The Latin root ‘oblivisci’, which has given rise also to the French ‘oubli’ and the Spanish ‘olvido’, means ‘to take away’, while the English ‘for-get’ and the German ‘ver-gessen’ literally mean ‘to receive away’. 1 This significant expression implies a mixture of passivity and activity, close to the original meaning of ‘oblivisci’. Although from certain points of view ‘oblivion’ and ‘forgetting’ can be considered as equivalent terms, the former indicates a state of mind, while the latter is used to mean a process which can take place at various levels, and which includes daily life more easily than does the former.
