Foregrounding Cultural Memory as a Mode of Narrative in The Museum of Innocence

Societies, civilizations, and nations have historically relied on their histories and cultural memories the most in order to form, transmit, and maintain their identities. Collective memory, the past passed down through many generations of a specific group of people, is a vital part of every community's history. It is via shared memories that individuals feel a sense of belonging to a broader society or culture. Like any other part of human experience, the past is neither faultless nor cultural or collective memory. Literature not only reflects the current political and social climate, but it also searches the historical records for information about the past and attempts to reinterpret or portray that history in a way that is unique to each place, providing fresh perspectives on the past. The political necessity of the newly formed Republic of Turkey in 1923 has refocused cultural memory and historical reconstruction in Turkey. Creating and disseminating a practical past was the original goal of Turkey's state institutions. A unified Turkish identity, a critique of state-sponsored organicist history as a tool of political manipulation, and a reimagining of the past to challenge the dominant collective memory and present an alternate narrative.