The Violence of the Letter : Toward a Theory of Writing /

The emergence of the alphabet in ancient Greece, usually heralded as the first step in the inexorable march toward reason and progress, in fact signaled the introduction of a chance technology that hijacked the future, with devastating consequences for humanity. By investigating an array of cultural...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: McMahon, Melanie (Author)
Format: Electronic eBook
Language:English
Published: Ann Arbor, Michigan : University of Michigan Press, 2023.
Series:Book collections on Project MUSE.
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Online Access:Full text available:
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Summary:The emergence of the alphabet in ancient Greece, usually heralded as the first step in the inexorable march toward reason and progress, in fact signaled the introduction of a chance technology that hijacked the future, with devastating consequences for humanity. By investigating an array of cultural artifacts, ranging from Kubrick's “2001: A Space Odyssey” to the Oracle at Delphi to Luther's challenge to the Church, this book demonstrates how the apparently benign emergence of writing made possible far-ranging systems of organized domination and unprecedented levels of violence. The Violence of the Letter considers how a twenty-six letter code changed the face of the world, and not always for the better.
Physical Description:1 online resource.
ISBN:9780472903238
Access:Open Access