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    Maurice Halbwachs on Collective Memory. by Lewis A. CoserReview by: Suzanne VromenAmerican Journal of Sociology, Vol. 99, No. 2 (Sep., 1993), pp. 510-512Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2781705.

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    American Journal of Sociology

    quate

    to

    our sense of ourselves

    as

    not

    simply singular but

    unique,

    irre-

    placeable beings. Metaphysics fails to

    solve the problem

    because it deals

    with individuality in general terms and can, at best, grasp the individual

    as

    the accidental, and the

    philosophy

    of

    consciousness fails because it

    makes the mistake of

    thinking that

    subjectivity will be uncovered by

    introspection instead

    of realizing with Humboldt and

    Mead that individ-

    uation

    is

    not the

    self-realization of

    an

    independently acting subject car-

    ried out

    in

    isolation and freedom (p.

    152) but a

    linguistically mediated

    affair

    in

    which the

    phenomena

    of

    individuality, intersubjectivity, and

    life-historical identity

    emerge as human

    beings interact with one another.

    While

    it

    can be

    argued

    that

    this

    fails to

    capture that moment of

    individu-

    ality and subjectivity found when

    subjects encounter

    themselves

    in

    iso-

    lation and freedom, it must still be granted that Habermas's discussion

    illuminates

    many

    of the

    important

    connections between

    individuation

    and

    socialization.

    More

    generally,

    the

    essays

    in

    this volume

    devoted

    to the thought of

    C.

    S.

    Peirce and G.

    H.

    Mead

    and

    to

    the

    attempt

    to level the

    distinc-

    tion between

    philosophy and science, on

    the one hand

    and literature, on

    the

    other,

    are

    vintage

    Habermas. They are grounded

    in

    a thorough mas-

    tery of

    the

    material

    discussed, and

    they

    are

    invariably insightful both

    in

    themselves and because

    they reflect and

    embody

    an

    understanding

    of

    the whole of things. The translator's clear, insightful introductory

    essay

    adds to the value

    of

    the

    volume.

    Maurice

    Halbwachs on

    Collective

    Memory.

    Edited,

    translated,

    and

    with

    an

    introduction

    by

    Lewis

    A. Coser.

    Chicago:

    University of

    Chicago

    Press,

    1992. Pp.

    244.

    $41.00.

    Suzanne Vromen

    Bard

    College

    To

    Maurice

    Halbwachs

    (1877-1945), a

    French

    sociologist and

    collabora-

    tor with

    Durkheim,

    we

    owe the

    earliest

    sociological

    study of

    memory.

    Between

    1925 and

    1944 he

    wrote

    three

    major

    works on

    this

    topic.

    Lewis

    Coser has now

    translated

    sections

    from

    two of

    these

    works, The

    Social

    Frameworks

    of

    Memory,

    originally

    published

    in

    1925, and

    The

    Legendary

    Topography of

    the

    Gospels

    in

    the

    Holy

    Land,

    published

    in

    1941.

    Halb-

    wachs's

    last work on

    memory appeared

    posthumously

    in

    1950

    and was

    translated

    in

    1980 as The

    Collective

    Memory

    (New

    York:

    Harper

    and

    Row),

    with an

    introduction by

    Mary

    Douglas.

    Halbwachs's

    interest

    in

    memory

    is

    undoubtedly

    due to

    the

    influence of

    his

    teacher,

    the

    philosopher Henri

    Bergson.

    Inspired

    by him,

    Halbwachs

    studied

    philosophy

    at the

    Ecole

    Normale

    and

    first

    pursued

    a

    career as a

    philosopher.

    Soon,

    however,

    he

    was

    attracted

    to

    the social

    sciences,

    be-

    came

    part

    of

    the

    Durkheimian

    group and

    contributed

    regularly to the

    Anne'e

    ociologique.

    After

    World

    War

    I,

    Halbwachs

    followed

    Georg Sim-

    510

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    Book

    Reviews

    mel

    in

    the

    chair

    of

    pedagogy

    and

    sociology

    at

    the

    University of

    Strasbourg

    (Frenchagain),

    moving

    in

    1935 to the Sorbonne

    and

    in

    1944to the

    presti-

    gious College de France.

    Halbwachs

    made the

    relationship between

    memory and

    society

    his

    central

    program.

    In The

    Social Frameworks

    of

    Memory

    he

    argued against

    considering memory an

    exclusively

    individual

    faculty.

    To

    remember

    means to be tied to

    collective frameworks of

    social reference

    points that

    allow memories to be

    coordinated

    in

    time and

    space.

    Not

    only

    are

    memo-

    ries

    acquired through society,

    they are

    recalled,

    recognized, and

    located

    socially. Memory also orders

    the experience

    and ensures

    the

    continuity

    of

    collectivities.

    Halbwachs detailed the

    collective

    memories of families

    (e.g., as

    they

    are embedded

    in

    first

    names),

    religious groups, and the

    nobility. Rooted not only in traditions but also in images and ideas de-

    rived from the present

    and

    in

    a concrete

    experiential reality, these

    collec-

    tive

    memories are not pure

    recollections but

    reconstructions.

    Halbwachs's

    views on

    memory

    stand

    in

    sharp

    opposition to Henri

    Bergson's

    intuitive stance. For

    Halbwachs,

    consciousness of

    duration is

    a

    social fact. To

    remember,

    one needs

    others;

    to remember

    is to

    under-

    stand a relation.

    The memorable

    events

    in

    the lives of

    groups

    to

    which

    the individual

    belongs serve as a

    coherent

    system

    of

    reference

    points

    for

    recall.

    Halbwachs treated religious collective memory empirically in The Leg-

    endary

    Topography

    of

    the

    Gospels

    in the

    Holy

    Land.

    By

    surveying

    sacred

    sites

    in

    the

    Holy

    Land

    in

    detail, he showed that the

    locations of

    major

    events linked to

    the

    origins

    of

    Christianity change according

    to

    significant

    doctrinal and

    political

    developments.

    Therefore,

    he

    contended,

    these lo-

    calizations serve

    as means of

    legitimation,

    as didactic

    modes,

    as

    a

    kind

    of

    staged

    authenticity.

    Coser's introduction is

    a

    signal

    contribution to our

    knowledge

    of

    Halb-

    wachs.

    Always

    a talented

    synthesizer,

    Coser uses

    contemporary

    scholar-

    ship

    to

    place

    Halbwachs

    in

    context and to

    present

    a

    comprehensive and

    lucid sketch of his life and works. Coser also offers creative speculations,

    for

    example,

    about the

    reasons that

    might

    have led

    Halbwachs to

    opt

    for Durkheim and

    sociology,

    and he

    provides

    a valuable

    discussion

    of

    Halbwachs's

    legacy.

    Some

    minor

    biographical points

    need

    rectification.

    For

    example the version of

    Halbwachs's arrest

    in

    1944

    is

    incorrect (p.

    7).

    The book

    contains selections

    from two different

    texts.

    The

    first

    half of

    the

    original

    work on

    the social frameworks

    of

    memory

    is

    reduced

    in

    the

    translation to

    25

    pages,

    the

    second

    half,

    which

    treats the

    collective memo-

    ries of

    groups,

    is

    completely translated. From

    the second text only

    the

    conclusion is

    included. What we miss

    therefore,

    among

    other

    things,

    is

    the

    continuity

    of Halbwachs's

    confrontational

    dialogue

    with

    Bergson

    and

    the discussion of the

    localization of memories.

    Coser,

    however,

    compen-

    sates for the

    fragmentation

    by

    the

    excellence of his

    introduction.

    Coser

    objects

    to

    what he calls

    Halbwach's

    presentist

    approach,

    whereby

    the

    past

    considered

    only

    as a

    reflection of

    present

    concerns

    and

    becomes a

    string

    of

    discontinuous

    snapshots

    (pp. 25-26).

    The

    criticism,

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    American Journal of Sociology

    I think, is not

    justified. Halbwachs was clearly aware

    of historical conti-

    nuity and of the

    particular mix of past traditions

    and present concerns

    that shape collective memory (pp. 120-21, 188). He was fascinated by

    the topography

    of the

    Holy

    Land

    precisely

    because

    it

    was

    such

    an extra-

    ordinary case,

    one

    in

    which

    vestiges

    of the

    past

    had been obliterated.

    Marc Bloch, the historian and

    a

    Strasbourg

    colleague,

    had

    no

    prob-

    lem in his review of Les Cadres Sociaux

    de la

    Memoire in discerning

    this fusion of past and present,

    yet he set Halbwachs's

    future agenda

    by asking

    him

    to give

    more attention to

    distortions and false

    memo-

    ries.

    Coser has grappled valiantly

    with a language often

    awkward and

    con-

    fusing;

    his

    effort is our

    gain.

    Unfortunately

    he has not

    been helped

    by

    expert proofreading. Typos abound, words are missing and the page

    numbers that

    supposedly identify the translated

    fragments in the original

    version have

    no

    connection

    with

    reality.

    A

    critical reading of Halbwachs's

    finest works raises questions about

    representations, continuity,

    and change, legitimation,

    authenticity and

    identity. It

    is

    timely that

    we

    finally

    have

    access

    to it.

    Thorstein

    Veblen and His Critics, 1891-1963:

    Conservative, Liberal, and

    Radical Perspectives. By Rick Tilman. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Uni-

    versity

    Press, 1992. Pp. 356.

    $39.50.

    Sidney Plotkin

    Vassar

    College

    No writer

    is

    prone

    to

    causing

    more

    dismay

    among

    the

    taxonomists of

    social

    theory

    than

    Thorstein Veblen. An authentic

    American radical, to

    be

    sure,

    Veblen's ideas

    encompass significant

    strands of

    conservative

    and

    liberal, as well as radical

    thought. Thoroughly opposed to modern busi-

    ness enterprise for its power to sabotage production, distort consumer

    preference, and dominate the

    state, Veblen was as pessimistic as any

    Burkean conservative about the

    difficulties

    of

    coherent

    social change and

    as committed

    as

    any

    classical

    liberal

    to

    the

    simple

    virtue of

    live and let

    live. Rick Tilman's study is a

    valuable effort to

    answer the question,

    What

    has American

    social science made

    of

    this most

    recalcitrant

    of

    minds?

    The

    short answer

    is,

    not

    much.

    Its

    range

    and

    reading of

    sources, alone will make this book indispens-

    able

    to

    Veblen scholars.

    Tilman

    has uncovered some real

    gems,

    for

    exam-

    ple, a little known review by George Herbert Meade of The Nature of

    Peace (New

    York:

    Macmillan, 1917). However, those

    thirsting for

    a new

    interpretationof Veblen

    will have to

    be

    patient. Tilman's

    study provides

    neither

    a

    summary

    nor

    a

    new

    synthesis of

    Veblen's

    ideas,

    and its

    argu-

    ments

    assume

    a

    good

    working knowledge

    of

    Veblen's many books and

    essays.

    In

    this first

    of a

    proposed

    three-volume

    analysis

    of Veblen's rela-

    512