Memory and Narrative in Social Theory

The author argues that contemporary social theories
cannot simultaneously accommodate the diachronic and synchronic
dimensions of time within their frameworks, because they reduce the
complexities of social life in order to cope with them. Jacques
Derrida’s and Walter Benjamin’s writings on memory open up
the possibility of thinking about the relation between memory and
narrative in multiple ways. These two theorists affirm the discontinuity
and the non-recognition between past events and present
discourses and analyse a broad range of possibilities in the reading of
history. The author argues that the simultaneity of the diachronic and
synchronic dimensions of time becomes possible only when past and
present are not thought of as two separate entities, as is common
practice in social theory. KEY WORDS • history • Jacques Derrida •
memory • Walter Benjamin