handwritten, printed, digital – a blog about ancient, medieval & late-modern book cultures. New posts every Monday, Wednesday & Friday. Don't forget to subscribe
The good thing about social media, they say, is that it promotes dialogue and exchange. And there's no better way to test views and ideas than through disputation and scrutiny. Except that social media, as you're surely aware, doesn't really do that. Instead, it sets up bastions of like-mindedness. Like-mindedness had been there long before... Continue Reading →
Do you remember Cassandra, the prophetess of the ancient sad countenance who possessed the gift of true prophecy but could never be believed? She was reportedly murdered by Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra along with her husband, but the truth is that she's still alive. The rumour has it that she married the boy who cried wolf... Continue Reading →
I just love it when myths come back to bite us (in the ass), like Sartre's annoying flies. Most cultural artefacts do not originate in fact, but in mythology, which is not to say fiction. And myths keep coming back, they are more resilient than any stone foundations. Long after the last ruins have faded... Continue Reading →
When we look back over the last thousand years, we see the formative stage of our European culture today, just like seedlings caught in the process of becoming full plants. In particular, we see two things: we see European languages developing and becoming fully-fledged idioms of communication and literacy, and we see proliferating stories germinating... Continue Reading →
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