Against Cultural Amnesia. Essays on National Memory and Identity

“Against Cultural Amnesia” is a new book by literary critic Vira Aheieva, in which she explores the role of memory in the formation of national identity.
Vira Aheieva speaks of the Ukrainian experience as a constant struggle for the right to remember in conditions when the colonialists forbade us to talk about our past and imposed an interpretation that was beneficial to them. Resistance to the politics of forgetting has never ceased. Telling fascinating stories, interpreting classical and contemporary texts, the author shows that preserving collective memory is a prerequisite for the survival of a nation.
The literary critic also emphasizes that it is important not only to preserve memory, but also to actualize those of its segments and episodes that sound most clearly today, most closely correspond to modern challenges and needs.