MOTIF OF MEMORY AND IDENTITY ACROSS CULTURES: IN WESTERN AND EASTERN NARRATIVES
Abstract
This article explores the role of memory in the formation of identity through a comparative analysis of Western and Eastern literary and philosophical traditions. Drawing on narrative theory, cultural philosophy, and memory studies, it argues that Western narratives predominantly conceptualize memory as an individual, episodic, and testimonial archive through which personal identity is constructed, interpreted, and ethically evaluated. In contrast, many Eastern traditions frame memory as relational, cyclical, and embedded within lineage, ritual, and collective temporal frameworks, prioritizing social continuity over introspective self-narration.
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