Western Civ 101-03

Class 19

March 4, 2015

The Western World, in the Midst of Change:From Speaking to Writing

Writing Emerges and Leads“the run-up”

• Deep rhetorical base in the oral arts.• Connection of the rhetorical base to the

school system.• Spread of Latin and Greek through the

Roman Empire.• The degradation of the “real” influence of

speaking.How to speak effectively was at the center of public life and

higher learning. But speaking with effect became marginalized. The tools were all there. But their uses

became less crucial.

• Invasion and fragmentation.• Emergence of the Christian Church.• Re-organization of Western society.– The invasions led to a patchwork of small

“kingdoms/fiefdoms.” – Overwhelming mixtures of vernaculars. – On the ground, speaking mattered less and less• few understood each other clearly.• Leadership wasn’t done with representative decision-

making.

Writing Emerges and Leads“the run-up”

• Leaders were “mini-kings.” Leaders needed to communicate– with force--inside their own fence and– diplomatically across boundaries. – Edicts (internally) and letters (externally) largely

take the place of persuasive oral arguments. • Each “place” had its own “monastery/church”

that produced the literate class in cahoots with/at the service of the local leader

Writing Emerges and Leads“the run-up”

• The irony of it all: Although writing emerges as more important than the speaking that it’s based on, illiteracy is rampant.

• The West goes through the “Dark Ages,” largely, because only the elite can read and write. – The materials aren’t widely available.– Education is preserved for the few.

Writing Emerges and Leads

• What did they write ON… When?• Parchment until, roughly, 715, and no mass-

produced paper until 1400s• It’s estimated that it took approximately 300

sheep (skins) to make enough parchment for one copy of the Bible (e.g., a book)

Access to the means of production

• Remember rhetoric in Athens: teaching communication for democratic participation to the point that BOTH the rich and the poor wanted it.

• In the Middle Ages, only the elite can leverage the dominate forms of effective communication.

• The West becomes divided by a new feature. Not just power, or money, or family, or race:

Literacy.

Writing Emerges and Leads

As writing emerges, it takes on “adornments”

• Since Christianity is based on Judaism, and Jews are “the people of THE BOOK,” Christianity has to figure out how to develop and elevate the book.

• Evangelization is a primary Christian goal– This is pretty unique at the time– This requires a standardized word, at some point.

• Once Christianity gets aligned with leadership, staying in power, doing administrative business, and communicating across groups is important– Though the fiefdoms are divided, the “CHURCH” is one

• Two “mother-tongues” emerge for the business of bureaucracy: Latin and Greek– This moves literacy even further from commoners (who speak a WIDE

variety of vernaculars . . . In which there are virtually NO written texts or education.

Today’s Readings as Hallmarksand examples

• On the Sublime is the first published instance of “literary criticism.” – all previous works guiding criticism were about

oral materials. On the Sublime is about doing criticism of writing.

– There’s a VERY powerful and useful notion here that changes the literate tradition forever.• The written word can do more than communicate (ideas

and the like). It can elevate one to otherworldly states. • This re-introduces an almost spiritual aspect into

Western logics. Pre-literate Western, and less-literate non-Western oral traditions, know this, but the West wants to leave it behind with writing.

• As we’ve previously discussed, On Christian Doctrine presents/establishes symbolic linguistic theory that advances the West’s understanding about, and use of, symbolic language use.– Even without paper, literature now has the

chance to evolve into forms that are not merely representational.• This enables ties back to the oral traditions of, for

example, the Greeks.

Today’s Readings as Hallmarksand examples

The Western World, in the Midst of Change:From Speaking to Writing

• As writing develops into the dominant medium in the West – It was based on oral rhetoric– It looped back to the strengths of orality even

when it didn’t want to– It becomes both the glue that holds civilization in

the West together and– It serves as a principle factor in the socio-cultural

divisions that will control the West . . . Perhaps even toward our time