What is collective memory? Reflections on the interpretation of memory in Paul Ricoeur's works

This study examines the concept of collective memory through an investigation of Paul Ricoeur's interpretation of this concept in his work, La memoire, l'histoire, l'oubli. In presenting a critical reading of the analogy Ricoeur establishes between collective and personal memory, the author argues that this analogy risks excluding those dimensions of collective memory which cannot be comprehended through such an analogy. The attempt is then made to surmount this difficulty through an analysis of collective memory in relation to its symbolic and metapersonal sources.