Simona Mitroiu
Pages 97-109
DOI: 10.5840/cultura20063223
ABSTRACT
The cultural identity is constructed around the elements kept in memory, but the configuration of the identity in time is given by the oblivion, which permanently acts on it. The knowledge of a person is accomplished both through the identification of the memorized clements and the sum and the character of the things which were forgotten. The oblivion is the cultural power conferring shape to the personal and collective identity and it has a double signification: the oblivion like an injury of the memory and the oblivion like the power of life. Along the memory, the oblivion assures the base of the identity’s constructing process, the way in which we define ourselves as human beings, reporting permanently to the others, both to those who share common elements with us, and to those who are different.