Afterlives and Memory

What object would survive you, and why?

Jhumpa Lahiri’s “A Temporary Matter” explores how the dead persist in domestic space. When does memory heal, and when does it poison?

Julian Barnes’ essay “Afterlife” treats memory as narrative construction. Pierre Nora’s concept of “lieux de mémoire” (sites of memory) helps us understand how cultures remember. What does it mean to choose which memories survive?