Category: Center for Global and Area Studies
Mental Libraries: The Reception of the Arts of Memory in Literature and Culture
June 06, 2025 Written by CAS Communication Staff
Mental Libraries: The Reception of the Arts of Memory in Literature and Culture (, June 2025) explores the enduring legacy of mnemonic systems across literature, visual arts, pedagogy, and cultural production.
Written by Julia Dom铆nguez, professor of Spanish in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Mental Libraries centers on the metaphor of the 鈥渕ental library.鈥
The collection reveals how memory practices functioned as tools for knowledge storage as well as generative frameworks for creativity and invention. The 13 essays trace the reception, adaptation and transformation of the ars memoriae from late medieval Europe to early modern Spain, Italy, France and Latin America. Contributors examine canonical figures like Petrarch, Bruno and Burton, alongside lesser鈥慹xplored thinkers such as Bartolomeo da Mantova, Zorrilla and Carrara. With insights from renowned scholars such as Lina Bolzoni and Luis Merino Jerez, this volume offers fresh perspectives on the cultural and intellectual impact of mnemonic systems.
Rich in visual content and interdisciplinary analysis, Mental Libraries bridges past and present, inviting readers to rethink the role of memory in shaping knowledge, literature and culture.