This PhD thesis in French Literature uses literary texts to explore the connections between writing, memory and the mind. From the intersection of cognitive science, literary studies and cultural memory studies, the study argues that literary writing can function as a cognitive tool to remember the past in new ways. When writing about the past, literary authors are not using the text as a recording device for their thoughts and memories. Rather, their minds and the texts fill different, complimentary cognitive roles as the remembering process is extended across mind and text.
Through theory building and close readings of four francophone novels addressing conflict memories, the thesis builds an account of extended remembering in writing. It begins by proposing a view of literary authors as experts of memory and explaining the thesis’ theoretical significance. The study then proceeds to put together the core argument that authors can extend their memories through writing. Working from this core argument, the study then tracks how extended remembering in literary writing can serve to extend other people’s memories, to tackle controversial political issues by integrating historical minds and context into the writing, and to build extended mnemonic expertise through the use of geographical structures. Overall, this study demonstrates how literary writing can serve as a powerful tool to remember, and how such processes can be tracked in literary texts.
Trial lecture
Designated topic: The relevance and/or irrelevance of manuscripts for literary studies.
Mats Haraldsen successfully defended his thesis on 30 January 2026.
Evaluation committee
- Associate Professor Marco Bernini, Durham University (first opponent)
- Professor Fiona Barclay, University of Stirling (second opponent)
- Professor Kjersti Bale, University of Oslo (committee administrator)
Chair of the defence
Supervisors
- Professor Geir Uvsløkk, University of Oslo
- Professor John Sutton, University of Stirling