Cultural memory and literature : re imagining Australias past Cultural memory involves a communitys shared memories the selection of which is based on current political and social needs. A past that is significant to a national group is re imagined by generating new meanings that replace earlier certainties and fixed symbols or myths. This creates literary syncretisms with moments of undecidability. The analysis in this book draws on Renate Lachmanns theory of intertextuality to show how novels that blur boundaries without standing in for history are prone to intervene in cultural memory