Lit Radar June 30, 2026 - Andrew Hoskins: Memory in the Digital Age

Andrew Hoskins is one of the leading contemporary scholars in memory studies, known for his pioneering work on digital memory. His research explores how digital technologies, social media, and networked communication have transformed the ways individuals and societies remember the past. Hoskins argues that memory is no longer confined to archives, monuments, or museums. Instead, it exists within dynamic digital networks where photographs, videos, social media posts, and online interactions are constantly created, shared, and reshaped. He introduced influential concepts such as digital memory, connective memory, and the new memory ecology, highlighting the profound impact of technology on collective remembrance. His major works include Save As… Digital Memories, Digital Memory Studies (co-edited), and War and Media. Alongside scholars such as Maurice Halbwachs, Pierre Nora, Jan Assmann, Aleida Assmann, Marianne Hirsch, Astrid Erll, and José van Dijck, Andrew Hoskins has helped redefine memory studies for the digital age, making his work essential reading for anyone interested in the intersection of memory, media, and technology. 

https://www.andrewhoskins.net/about

In a Grove by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa - Unit 1.1

                                              

“In a Grove” is a Japanese short story by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa about the murder of a samurai named Kanazawa Takehiro.  The story is  told  different points of views or perspectives. 

 

Woodcutter: He found the body of the samurai in the grove, alongside a comb and some pieces of rope. 

Buddhist Priest: He saw Takehiro traveling with a woman on the road earlier in the day. 

Policeman: He reports capturing a notorious bandit named Tajōmaru, who was found with a horse and weapons. 

Old Woman: She is the mother of the woman, Masago, and confirms the identities of the victim and the bandit. 

Tajōmaru (Bandit): He confesses to killing Takehiro after raping Masago. He claims Masago wanted to leave with him and that Takehiro died honourably in a duel. 

Masago (Wife): She confesses to killing her husband herself, saying she felt ashamed after being violated and begged Takehiro to kill her. When he responded with coldness, she lost control and killed him. 

Takehiro (Samurai, through a medium): Speaking through a medium, Takehiro claims he killed himself. After Tajōmaru’s attack, Masago asked both men to decide her fate, but when Tajōmaru abandoned her, she ran away. In despair, Takehiro took his own life with Masago’s dagger.  

LitRadar - June 29, 2026 - Remembering the Forgotten: Anil’s Ghost

 

Anil’s Ghost is a powerful novel that explores memory, truth, loss, and the human cost of civil war in Sri Lanka. Through the journey of forensic anthropologist Anil Tissera, who returns to her homeland to investigate political disappearances, Michael Ondaatje examines how personal and collective histories are shaped by violence and silence. As Anil and her companions attempt to identify an anonymous skeleton, the novel moves beyond mystery into a profound meditation on grief, isolation, trauma, and the fragile pursuit of justice. Written in Ondaatje’s lyrical style, Anil’s Ghost is both a political narrative and a deeply moving reflection on memory and humanity.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/apr/29/fiction.reviews2

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