| Abstract | Abstract John Berger's work of the past dozen years, bearing witness to the disappearance of the European peasantry and seeking to rescue the practice of storytelling that it might be renewed and turned against the cultural amnesia of both industrial capitalism and State socialism, has represented a further articulation of his commitment to the necessity of critical historical thought and consciousness. This essay reviews Berger's earlier work and considers his most recent writings in terms of his commitment to historical remembrance and imagination. Though Berger's project is still found to be extremely compelling, the author finds Berger's formulation of the question of 'survival’ as the central question of contemporary history problematic.
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