Memory Palace

Entrance Hall

• A Form of Freedom

  The great door swung inward with an ominous creak and lead into an expansive entrance hall. It was of a construction kin to that of the outer walls themselves, as if someone had set out stones in the architectural shape of a common living room, but embossed such a common space with all the heraldry of a medieval castle. The wizard walked into the center of the room before spinning to face you, his robes billowing slightly with the motion. “Here we are at last my friend. There is much yet to show you, much to be done, but there is still some backgrounding needed for you to truly understand.” You stop to ponder his meaning, wondering what further information could really do you any good in this memory phantasm.
  
  “The answer to that should be simple enough. You might ask, if you had the tongue to do so, ‘why has this Master brought me here? What purpose is there in all this?’ Or perhaps, ‘goodness, what an interesting situation, what might I find within these strange halls?’ I of course can answer both these hypotheticals for you my voiceless friend!” You find yourself compelled once more, and move to the center of the expansive entrance hall, finding yourself standing alongside the Wizard.
  
  “You will find within each of the rooms surrounding this hall a variety of objects. Not just the normal chaff that suffices for decoration here, but objects that have a curious aura to them. These objects are constructed to represent the thoughts the Master considers worthy of display, though the concept is best explained by the ancient philosopher Quintilian, on whose back the Memory Palace theory was constructed:
  
  
  
  ‘We ought, then, to set up images of a kind that can adhere longest in the memory. And we shall do so if we establish likenesses as striking as possible; if we set up images that are not many or vague, but doing something; if we assign to them exceptional beauty or singular ugliness; if we dress some of them with crowns or purple cloaks, for example, so that the likeness may be more distinct to us; or if we somehow disfigure them, as by introduce one stained with blood or soiled with mud or smeared with red pains, so that its form is more striking, or by assigning certain comic effects to our images, for that, too, will ensure our remembering them more readily.’”
  
  The wizened figure continued, “In the next few rooms you will find many of these objects, and through these objects you will be transferred more directly into the thoughtstream of the Master. Within these realms of pure thought you will exist, however briefly, within his stream of consciousness, and he will share with you the full extent of his thought. Or, rather, an entertaining representation of that thought. A daunting prospect I know, but he does all this with but one goal: to teach."
  
  The Wizard stroked his magnificent beard for a moment before he continued his thought. "Lesley Coote in her work entitled Chaucer and the Visual Image: Learning, Teaching Assessing adamantly endorses the use of digital media as the premier way to teach more complicated subjects, such as the titular Chaucer, who will indeed surface again and again within this realm. In essence, the combination of visual and auditory media that the digital realms allow the user access to, create a more fluid teaching method. More fluid, anyway, than simply reading such works. The Master has taken this to heart, as should you if you are to consume the fruits of his labor."
  
  The Wizard paused to get his bearings, then gestured straight ahead to another pair of massive oaken doors. “Ahead lies the Great Library. There he has stored expansive texts, both ‘real’ text and digital, and has constructed his multitude of scholarly pursuits. This is the pride of these halls, my pride, and the Master’s as well. It is here that you, should you have a scholarly bone in your body, will find the subjects of deepest interest. I’ll not spoil it by saying anything further, but I recommend this first and foremost of all the rooms in this realm.”
  
  He then turned to the left and gestured to stairways that lead downward. “Here is the Master’s Hobby Dungeon, the name itself something of a joke, though I suppose it looks well enough like a proper dungeon. Therein lies all that the Master would share of his pursuits in the playful and the fantastical. More than that, being the scholar that he is, he is unable to resist coupling his hobbies with the scholarly theories he so loves. Thus you will find there not only representatives of fun and games, but also of grandiose intertextual world building. By all rights I myself am a construction of this place, why else should I be bedecked as such a magical figure?”
  
  He spun once more and directed your attention to the right of the room. As if in direct opposition to the dungeon before, here was a set of stairs that spiraled upwards. “Upwards leads to the Tower of Relations, a bawdy title if you think too long about it, but try to avoid temptation. There contains the Master’s relation to other Humans, other Masters, admittedly his understanding of such relations is also touched by the many texts he so loves to pour over... or rather, such is what I would normally say. The Master has suffered some recent shifts to his perspectives, familial shifts, a lover of two years working into his heart, and he does not feel this realm of his mind is refined enough at current for presentation.”
  
  At last the Wizard came around to face forward, but this time he gestured to the far left corner into a smaller, if no less ornate door. “Through there lies the Hall of the Everyday, within you will find the more… superfluous elements of the Master’s existence. If there is a particular piece of popular culture, such as film or music that the Master finds noteworthy it is enshrined, in some form, there. More of a curiosity for the intrepid wanderer, but still something I imagine you’ll want to take the time to see.”
  
  Finally the robed figure turned to face you “You have now then some idea of your purpose here, and know something of what you shall face. I will continue to accompany you, however, the time has come for you to decide your own fate.”
  
  With those words you suddenly feel a great weight on your shoulders, as if the narrow paths the wizard had set you on were suddenly open. You still feel as if there are other strings pulling at you, but their influence becomes slackened. Your will is more your own, and you find yourself now with only one question:
  
  Which room shall you enter?
  
  The Great Library.
  
  The Hobby Dungeon.
  
  Hall of the Everyday.
  
  Exit.