Literature as an aid to memory

"Literature began as an aid to memory, and it continues to serve myth in that role, preserving a few strands of myth from extinction in the way endangered animal species are preserved by zoos and exotic plants by botanical gardens. Only through literature and other forms of documentation do most of us have any memory at all" (Kane 225). 

I agree with Kane here.  I see the print culture and literature as a way to re-live past memories instead of Destroying them.  One perfect example is one of my favorite songs by Alice In chains.

I chase misprinted lies

I chase the path of time

and yet I fight and yet I fight

this battle all alone

no one to cry to

no place to call home.

my gift of self was raped.

my privacy is raped.

and yet I fight these demons in my head

If I can't beat my own.

I'd be better dead.

In the song Layne Staley is in battle with his popularity and how it effects his battle with addiction.  Every time he preforms this song...it is a way to relive the past memories all over again.  Does the fact that he wrote the song down and had it printed destroy his memory of the past events?  No, it reinforces them and allows him to do more then just remember them...he relives them.