HSAM

孟佳文Feb 2025

2.3

Word count: 468 words
Chapters: 6

Summary

“Contradiction” is always present: on one hand, people long for separation and solitude, to become independent individuals. On the other, they crave connection and attention. Just as people harbor romantic or idealistic dreams of escape, they must also accept the sorrow and latent pitifulness of reality. The convergence and separation between the collective and the individual, and social relationships between people, have become more complex in today's era.

For this photobook I fictionalized a person named Zhuo. He recounted his experiences to me. He suspects he suffers from hyperthymesia (Hyperthymesia, also called completely superior autobiographical memory, refers to a person possessing extraordinarily detailed autobiographical memory, able to remember the major personal experiences and events of their life (non-selective memory). Patients have detailed, almost extreme recall; these memories are primarily visual, and they cannot choose what they want to remember. Memory arises entirely under the brain's automatic execution—relentlessly, uncontrollably, utterly exhausting, even becoming a burden.) So he uses photography to recreate and express his inner emotions. Interspersed among the photographs in the album are four passages of text, each a compiled record of our four conversations.

Throughout the photobook, drawing on my understanding of the above “contradiction” and memories of familiar environments, I combine photographs, typed letters, and other materials to construct a fictional narrative about a person suspected of having hyperthymesia recounting nearly extreme memories.

Editor's review

This is a fictional narrative work using photography as its medium: the author invents a person named Zhuo and, through his self-account of suspected hyperthymesia, strings together compiled records of four meetings along with photographs and typed letters. The book revolves around the contradiction of “longing for solitude yet longing for attention,” turning the complex forms of collective and individual, gathering and parting, and social relationships today into viewable images and readable fragments. Hyperthymesia here is not a curiosity label but an entry point for understanding the burden of “remembering without choice”: memory executes automatically and cannot be manipulated, leaving a person utterly exhausted. Photography's re-creative function and the text's self-account complement each other, forming a reading experience between a photo album and a short story. Suitable for slow reading in a quiet setting, repeatedly comparing photographs with their corresponding text; also suitable as a sample study for readers interested in image narrative, memory, and emotional expression.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in mixed photo-and-text narratives and image-based expression
Readers concerned with psychological themes such as memory, solitude, and social contradiction
Readers who enjoy fictional self-accounts, fragmented structures, and nonlinear reading
Creators who want to study how photographs and text can complement each other in narrative

Not a good fit for

Traditional fiction readers expecting a complete plotline and a clear ending
Readers hoping for medical knowledge or popular-science answers about hyperthymesia
Readers who prefer light entertainment and lack patience for emotional introspection

Reading tips

Read through the four conversation records first, then revisit the photographs, noting echoes and deviations between text and image.
Treat “Zhuo” as a fictional character rather than the author's self-account, and avoid taking the narrative content directly as fact.
Pause at emotionally intense passages, record similar memories they evoke in you, then compare.
Read in several sessions, handling one conversation with one group of photographs each time, leaving room for digestion.

版权信息
正文一
正文二
正文三
正文四
正文五

FAQ

Is “Zhuo” in the book the author himself?

According to the materials, Zhuo is a character invented by the author, and the book is a fictional narrative built around him. The photographs, typed letters, and conversation records all serve this fictional framework; readers should not equate Zhuo's experiences directly with the author's real experiences.

Is hyperthymesia explained as popular science in the book?

No. The materials give a brief description of hyperthymesia—non-selective retention of vast autobiographical memory, beyond voluntary control and becoming a burden. The book uses this premise to express inner emotions and memory pressure, focusing on narrative and feeling rather than medical explanation.

What is the relationship between the photographs and the text?

The photographs recreate and express inner emotions; the text consists of compiled records of four meetings, along with typed letters and other materials. The two complement each other: the text provides narrative and context, while the photographs offer intuitive emotional and memory clues; together they form a complete fictional narrative.

Is this book suitable for reading in one sitting?

It can be read in one sitting, but reading in sessions is recommended. The book is composed of conversation fragments and photo groups in a fragmented structure; reading in segments makes it easier to appreciate the correspondence between image and text and leaves room to digest the emotions.

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About the author

孟佳文 Author

Meng Jiawen is an author about whom limited public information is currently available. The database contains only one work by this author, titled HSAM. Judging from its common classification, the work falls under photography, suggesting that Meng Jiawen's creative interests relate to visual expression, possibly presenting themes through photographs, image arrangement, or a combination of text and images. The title HSAM is concise and somewhat abstract, leaving considerable room for interpretation, but the available bibliographic information is not enough to confirm its specific content, subjects, or format. Since no reliable records exist regarding birth and death dates, nationality, education, or creative career, this profile makes no speculation on those points. Based on the existing clues, Meng Jiawen appears to be an author known to readers through a single photographic work, and further observation of this author's writing and image practice would be worthwhile once more material becomes available.