Memory and Image

Abstract

Image and narration are intrinsically related when the transmission of memory is at stake. This is so, not only because of the iconic dimension of the words, that make any story a projective screen of our imagination, but also due to the narrative character of images, although these very often require the proximityof the word. In both cases the idea of transmission, which has a special meaningin the domain of education, has to do with some intentionality, an orientation towards the other, the addressee, in a dialogical interaction where response and responsibility come together in an ethical plane. Our aim here is to pose some theoretical reflections regarding the relation between image and memory by comparing two scenes, one taken from literature (Sebald), and the other from the visual arts (Christian Boltanski), scenesof a traumatic memory, marked by tragedy.