Memorium: Classic Book Guide and Free Edition
Memorium: author and translator credits, catalogue synopsis, subjects and links to the Gutenberg reading formats.
Memorium is catalogued by Project Gutenberg with author credits for Wells, Basil (1912–2003).
Catalogue synopsis
Project Gutenberg supplies this automated synopsis of the opening text:
Memorium by Basil Wells is a science fiction short story written in the mid-20th century. It imagines a future where every person’s thoughts and memories are recorded for posterity, probing how universal transparency reshapes intimacy, ethics, and history. An aged Vance Norall, living in a comfortable Antarctic dome, reminisces with his great-great grandson, Ronnie, in a world where “memorium tapes” preserve a life’s inner truth. Through the posthumous playback of his three wives’ minds, he learns that Elsie’s public brilliance masked loneliness and infidelity born of hurt; Vivian’s dutiful propriety hid trauma, illness, and a recoil from affection; and Eldris, whom he long suspected of marrying for comfort, had in fact loved him deeply. Framed by a brief history of the memorium system—evolving from authoritarian screenings to a universal deterrent—Vance cautions Ronnie not to judge earlier generations, who lived without knowing their private selves would be laid bare. After the boy leaves, he turns again to Eldris’s tapes, choosing solace in the shared memories that correct his lifelong misreadings.
Book and edition facts
- Title: Memorium
- Author credits: Wells, Basil (1912–2003)
- Catalogue language: English
Catalogue subjects
- Memory -- Fiction
- Science fiction
- Short stories
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View the complete Gutenberg catalogue record. Project Gutenberg identifies this edition as public domain in the United States; that designation does not establish its copyright status in every country.
Source notes
Catalogue metadata is public domain and is supplied through Gutendex, which imports Gutenberg's machine-readable catalogue. The automated synopsis is source-supplied, not an independently verified review. Author dates above describe the credited people; no ebook release date is presented as the book's original publication date.
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