If a theatergoer collects some vivid impression of a show -- a musical phrase, an actor's gesture -- even a transitory play can exist indefinitely, in what Proust called "the vast structure of recollection".
With a vast number of personal recollections, as well as a judicious use of official sources, the book doesn't just tell us about the strange and (I very much hope) unrepeatable social experiment that was National Service.
And although this may be the most documented battle ever, the historian must use a vast supply of unreliable postwar recollections as sources.
Hugh Brody, an anthropologist, writer and documentary filmmaker, begins his new book, "The Other Side of Eden," with a recollection of a hunt in the vast darkness of the Arctic night.
The outcome of those patients who left before formal discharge is unknown; however, anecdotal recollection supports the presumption that the vast majority of these had clinically improved and did not want to stay to see a doctor.
Barring some Proustian effort of recollection, a long period of years, with its vast range of experiences and incidents, simply can't be judged all at once.
Luckily, Price had also kept a diary throughout that period, allowing the researchers to verify her recollections of personal incidents too; again, she was right the vast majority of the time.
Gyles Brandreth, former MP and broadcaster "It was not especially onerous, though I have a vague recollection of a grand lady who said 'Do you polish silver?' and then produced a vast canteen that had once been used by the Duke of Wellington.
"I have no recollection".
LIONEL: First recollection.
