Summary

In “Diem Perdidi,” Alice can remember her name, the name of the president, and the name of the president’s dog (77). She can remember where she lives, in “what town,” “on which street,” and “in which house” (77). She remembers when her daughter was born. She also remembers the daughter who died before her second daughter was born. She remembers Frank, “the man she did not marry” but loved and whose letters she still keeps (77). She remembers her husband and her daughter’s ex-husband.

In spite of all these things, she does not remember many other things, including what she has just eaten or when “to comb her hair” (78). Some details are easier to remember, while others are more challenging. She can remember days and events that happened long ago. She remembers Japan, her dead friends, but not that they have died, and the...