Publication Date:
2024-04-05
Description:
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.
Keywords:
literary theory, writing, alphabet, literacy, colonialism, capitalism, Derrida, Marx, Havelock, Ong, Althusser, critical theory, French theory, Foucault, violence, imperialism, Western civilization, oral culture, indigenous studies, postcolonial theory, settler colonial theory, culturalstudies, world history, Empire, antiquity, history of writing, Lévi-Strauss, printing press, Luther, monotheism, Oedipus complex, Oedipus Rex, Oedipus Tyrannus, oracle at Delphi, Pythia, schooling, neuropsychology, media archaeology, media studies, media theory, media ecology
;
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy
;
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFA Philosophy of language
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thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSA Literary theory
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thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFL Palaeography::CFLA Writing systems, alphabets
Language:
English
Format:
image/jpeg
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