Bücher von Johanna Drucker

"Though there are many books about the history of the alphabet, virtually none address how that history came to be. In Inventing the Alphabet, Johanna Drucker guides readers from antiquity to the present to show how humans have shaped and reshaped their own understanding of this transformative writing tool. From ancient beliefs in the alphabet as a divine gift to growing awareness of its empirical origins through the study of scripts and inscriptions, Drucker describes the frameworks-classical, textual, biblical, graphical, antiquarian, archaeological, paleographic, and political-within which the alphabet's history has been and continues to be constructed. Drucker's book begins in ancient Greece, with the earliest writings on the alphabet's origins. She then explores biblical sources on the topic and medieval preoccupations with the magical properties of individual letters. She later delves into the development of modern archaeological and paleographic tools, and she concludes with the role of alphabetic characters in the digital era. Throughout, she argues that, as a shared form of knowledge technology integrated into every aspect of our lives, the alphabet performs complex cultural, ideological, and technical functions, and her carefully curated selection of images demonstrates how closely the letters we use today still resemble their original appearance millennia ago"--

Bridge Volume 23, Number 1: DATA 1: APPARITIONSSECTIONS & EDITORSPublisher & Editor-in-Chief Michael WorkDATA 1: APPARITIONS A first in an occasional series of data-themed volumesSECTIONS & EDITORSPublisher & Editor-in-Chief Michael WorkmanArchitecture David SundryCouture Kristin MarianiDance & Performance Art Michelle KranickeFiction Meghan LambPhilosophy Mark TschaepeVisual Art Laura KinaMusic Efua OseiCover Image: Allen Moore, 2022CONTENTSLetter from the Editor - Michael WorkmanPUBLIC UTILITIES, the Bridge not for profit spotlight: CivicLab POETRY - Jeanne Morel, Warren LemingFICTION - Judith Brotman, Jae GreenFEATURE "Time Seen" by Johanna DruckerVISUAL ART "Stock Charts" by Richard MinskyINTERVIEW "Studio Visit" with Allen Moore by Michael WorkmanCONTRIBUTORSFiction Illustrations by Maura Walsh