Hello readers.

During the first week of my English class, we discussed the difference between memory and history, and which one we believed created a more reliable account of events which had passed. I was dismissive at first, “The answer is clear. How can memory be better than history when conveying this type of information”? Then Professor Luger instructed us to recall the day we arrived on campus, and to write an historical account of the events that took place that day. So I put myself into the shoes of an historian, trying to draw out the hard facts and keep my writing as untainted by emotion as possible. A few sentences in I stopped and read what I had put down. It went something like this “Devon walked onto campus with his parents, the area was crowded with people. That day Devon met many new people and didn’t go to sleep until 4am”. This was not true. The facts were right, however the truth had not been captured. I had been terrified, I was scared I wouldn’t make any friends, scared that I would lose motivation to attend class, scared to leave my family and my birth country behind and start a new life in a city where I didn’t know anyone. Historic accounts couldn’t properly represent those emotions that went through me and countless others that day. I realized memory was the better choice for documenting a day such as that.

My realization caused me to wonder. Where else could I see individual memory capturing the essence of an event? When is it preferable to write like a historian and when is it more appropriate to utilize personal memory? I took hints from the book list required for our English class. The book that caught my attention was a graphic novel written about the Bosnian genocide. Events such as the Bosnian genocide are probably best represented by using historical accounts as background information for the recorded memories which would follow and capture the emotional aspects. A mixture of writing genres. When writing about these atrocities factual history can treat the individuals involved as if they are merely statistics. “Six Million Jewish people died during of the Holocaust” although true and terrible this statement does not do justice to the true horrors which Holocaust victims went through in concentration camps, the best way to capture that is with the personal memories of those who were there.

Neither individual memory or collective history is superior to another, they are more appropriately used during different contexts. The two genres can also be forged together to play different roles in the proper representation of the same story.