Socrates was suspicious of writing and preferred the oral transmission of knowledge. Paradoxically, if his opinions have reached us it is because Plato recorded them in a book: the Phaedrus. Despite Socratic reluctance, it is obvious that the written word has been essential for cultural development. Our first grammarian, Antonio de Nebrija, described its usefulness very beautifully: “The cause of the invention of letters was first for our memory and then so that through them we could speak with those who are absent and those who are yet to come.” Suck that one, Socrates.
José Antonio Millán (Madrid, 1954) has spent his entire life dedicated to the written word, as a linguist and as an editor, and knows how to transmit the knowledge accumulated in a very entertaining way in The Strokes That Speak. The volume presents a vast journey from Antiquity to the present day and incorporates well-selected illustrations. The fact that it carries a short introductory note by Roger Chartier, who is something like the high priest of the history of books and publishing, already gives us a clue that what we have in our hands deserves to be read.
Millán traces the evolution of writing and reading, taking into account its intellectual, but above all tangible, aspects. From Egyptian hieroglyphics to the alphabet; from papyrus to paper; from the punch of the tablets to the pen; from the scrolls and codices to the printed book; from the copyists to the linotypist; from scribes who worked squatting to the invention of the desk; from the typewriter to the word processor. Every elevated form of knowledge and artistic expression is inseparable from the materials at its disposal and from technical evolutions. This is seen very obviously in painting, photography or cinema, but it is also applicable to writing.
The author also reviews the relevance of medieval scriptoria and later Renaissance humanism, until reaching our digital present. What percentage of the population had access to writing and reading in the medieval world? How many people today in the West do not know how to read and write? Writing is knowledge and its dissemination involved introducing its learning into the educational system (the chapter dedicated to calligraphy school manuals may have the effect of the Proustian Magdalene on some readers). The popularization of reading also made systematization essential through spellings and language academies.
Far from being a grim scholarly book, The Strokes That Speak abounds in anecdotes, such as the story of the Hungarian brothers László and Gyorgy Bíró, who emigrated to Argentina fleeing the war in Europe and in 1943 patented their invention there: the biromé, known between us like a pen. A few years later, two Frenchmen, Marcel Bich and Edouard Buffard, made it disposable: the Bic Cristal was born.
Are we in danger of stopping using the pen in favor of the keyboard or the voice writing assistant? Recently, attention was drawn to the news, later nuanced and denied, that Finland was going to stop teaching calligraphy in schools. Millán puts special effort into the defense of handwriting (tied and cursive writing versus plain and printed letters).
By the way: are you reading this article in the print or digital edition? The text is the same, but the support introduces nuances: the ink, the paper, the page and the closed layout of the physical format in front of the screen, the unlimited space and the possibility of retouching the digital format.
José Antonio Millán The strokes that speak Ariel 488 pages 22.70 euros
