The art of memory as a mapping of practiced places

1.3 Topography in movement44: The art of memory as a mapping of practiced places

When following the itinerary proposed by the pilgrim in The Rings of Saturn, the first correlation established with the previous arguments is the idea of an art of memory as a mapping of space – which includes the interior space or the architecture of the interior writing45 and, of course, the places practiced. The way found by Sebald to make this process possible is through the use of a moving topography: as the narrator moves, the memories materialize.

It is in this sense that the movement of the pilgrimage activates the triggers of memory. Similar to an architectural tour46 – in which the walk around the architectural object generates successive points of view and orders the experience of fruition47 –, this is how the narrator’s memories accumulate due to the displacement. In this movement, there is no single meaning: the pilgrimage is both physical and mental, simultaneously. Finally, it is the construction of the itinerary that shapes the mapping, as suggested by the link proposed here with Giuliana Bruno’s arguments48:

Maps, learning records, after all, follow the experience. They exist after the path has been taken [...]. It is then that the writer/cartographer can map his territory. This includes what he may or may not achieve in his exploration: his terrae incognitae, the seductive voids that, if the 44 “Emotion materializes as a moving topography.” (BRUNO, 2018, page 2) 45 Here, it is necessary to return to Giuliana Bruno’s reflection on the work of Frances Yates: “As Frances Yates shows in her seminal study on the subject, the art of memory is an architectonics of inner writing.” (Ibid., page 221, own highlights) 46 “The art of memory understood recollection spatially. It made room for image collection and, by means of an architectural promenade, enabled this process of image collection to generate recollection.” (Ibid., page 221, own highlights) 47About the concept of promenade architecturale developed by the architect Le Corbusier: The concept is realized through a set of material properties, consciously worked with the objective of realizing the idea of variation of the route, forcing the experience of the architectural object in different positions and points of view and constantly changing the relationship between the object and the user. (MACIEL, 2002) 48 “Maps, records of learning, after all, follow experience. They come into existence after the path has been traveled (…). It is then that the writer/cartographer can map out her territory. This includes what she could not or did not reach in her exploration: her terrae incognitae, those seductive voids that, if one knows the topophilia of the lacunae, are not there to be conquered but are textures exposed, where the markings of time take place.” (BRUNO, 2018, page 5)

topophilia of the gap is known, are not there to be conquered, but are exposed textures, where time marks occur. (BRUNO, 2018, page 5, own highlights and translation)

The narrative organized as a map, therefore, incorporates the path explored by the narrator. What is mainly established is the exposure of the marks of time, as mentioned above – evidently, under the bias of destruction. In addition, there is also what Sebald calls the lacunae of ignorance49 , to make one more correspondence with the previous argument: clues that make him move through this kind of territory and, in this way, deepen the existing connections. The passages that will be evoked from now on reflect on the effects of this destruction – and, ultimately, call for a kind of redemption. This is how Sebald’s procedure achieves the vital persistence of the work of art: by rescuing the ashes, life’s most noble sarcophagus50 .

Sebald’s set of references regarding the ash is quite varied: in the case of space, it is especially located in the remnants found in desolate and remote landscapes. In the pilgrimage on foot, the narrator goes to the South coast of Lowestoft, a scenario that will evoke reports on natural history – a recurring theme in Sebald’s work. When faced with a series of shelters in the shape of a tent, used by those who eagerly wait for herring fishing, the author forays the prospect of destruction by humans51 .

In this sense, there is a detailed report on herring fishing52 and its consequences. Here, Sebald’s effort focuses on man-made disasters, capable of generating a

49 “And it’s these lacunae of ignorance and the very few facts that we have that were sufficient somehow for me to move into this territory and to look around there and to feel, after a while, quite at home.” (SEBALD, 2007b, pages 42 and 43) 50 “If the work of art does not know death as the definitive extinction of breath and shine, this is because, strictly speaking, it is not life, but ashes, life’s most noble sarcophagus. […] As life is always the life of the spirit, we speak of the ‘vital persistence of works in a completely nonmetaphorical sense’ […].” (MOLDER, 2016, page 252, own highlights and translation) 51 “It is as if the last remnants of a nomadic people had settled there, at the extreme limit of the earth, waiting for the miracle coveted since time immemorial, a miracle that would justify all their deprivations and previous wanderings.” (SEBALD, 2010, page 262, own translation) 52 “In this passage, an educational film about herring fishing emerges to the narrator’s memory, seen still at school: “In the memory that I keep of this educational film, I see the men in their shiny black raincoats working heroically under the stormy sea that broke over them […] – herring fishing

profusion of debris53 – a process largely driven by our supposed thirst for knowledge54 . For this, the author includes several sources that concretize his procedure, deeply marked by the reflection on destruction:

(...) natural historians sought solace in the idea that humanity is responsible for only a portion of the endless destruction that occurs in the life cycle, and furthermore in the assumption that the physiological structure of fish protected them from the feeling of fear and of the pains that afflict the bodies and souls of the higher animals in the longing for death. (SEBALD, 2010, page 65)

The accounts arranged throughout the book add up around the central argument: if everything is destruction, memory would be the vestige itself – or, according to the reasoning here, memory offers itself as ash. There is a concern on the part of Sebald to inject references from various contexts, which respond not only to his writing process but also to the constant dualities investigated by the author. Once again, the narratives display a series of symbolic references, instead of opting for a direct confrontation with the theme of destruction [see Image 6]. On the encounter with the desolate landscapes, the photographs displayed by Sebald help to configure the spatial record 55 [see Images 5 and 7].

as one of the exemplary scenarios of humanity’s struggle with the power of nature.” (Ibid., page 64, own highlights and translation) 53“[...] Sebald dwells always on the same large themes. His favorite is the swift blossoming of every human endeavor and its long slow death, either through natural or man-made disaster, leaving a wealth of remains to be pored over […].” (SCHWARTZ, 2007, page 13) 54 “Such a process, inspired by our thirst for knowledge, can be described as the culmination of the history of suffering of a species constantly threatened by catastrophe.” (SEBALD, 2010, page 67, own translation) 55 It is important to point out that the use of photographs establishes, in principle, an attempt by Sebald to make the record of space and conform a feasible experience. However, as one gets in touch with the author’s work, the intention of conceiving an “unreliable narrative” (FRANKLIN, 2007, page 125) is noticeable, since there is no reference to the origin of the photographs.

Image 5: The pilgrimage continues South of Lowestoft.

Image 6: A frame from the educational film about herring fishing that emerges to the narrator’s memory.

Image 7: Records the continuity of the route, now towards Southwold.