"This book primarily focuses on the concept of forgetting, with particular emphasis on how we can trace the forgotten in contemporary life writing and memory texts. It consists of two main parts: the first concentrates on life writing in particular and what the author calls 'scenes of forgetting'; the second examines both fiction and autobiographies that deal with questions of collective memory/forgetting. The book's principal aim is to map methods and strategies writers employ when writing the forgotten--it argues that forgetting is a constant companion in any memory text and plays a decisive role in the memory work performed in the texts."--Page [4] of cover.