The Violence of the Letter Toward a Theory of Writing

• Main Author: McMahon, Melanie (auth)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: University of Michigan Press 2023
• Subjects: Philosophy; Philosophy of language; Literary theory; Writing systems, alphabets; 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
• Online Access: OAPEN Library: download the publication; OAPEN Library: description of the publication

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.