Comments on: Writing, thinking, dreaming http://blog.prospectblogs.com/2008/04/27/writing-thinking-dreaming/ Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:10:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: Tom Chatfield http://blog.prospectblogs.com/2008/04/27/writing-thinking-dreaming/#comment-4405 Tom Chatfield Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:23:41 +0000 http://blog.prospectblogs.com/2008/04/27/writing-thinking-dreaming/#comment-4405 Quite. And let's not forget one of the most basic virtues of digital media, as compared to the libraries of the past; their relative immunity to destruction, and their ease of distribution. While reading around for my blog post, I was struck by this poignant little sentence, which appears in a timeline at the bottom of a fine piece by Peter Conrad http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/politicsphilosophyandsociety/0,,2276463,00.html 47AD: The library of Alexandria is destroyed by fire. It was said to contain a copy of every book on Earth. As Ray Bradbury knew, the freedom to go on reading what those who lived before us wrote is not to be sniffed at. Quite. And let’s not forget one of the most basic virtues of digital media, as compared to the libraries of the past; their relative immunity to destruction, and their ease of distribution. While reading around for my blog post, I was struck by this poignant little sentence, which appears in a timeline at the bottom of a fine piece by Peter Conrad http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/politicsphilosophyandsociety/0,,2276463,00.html

47AD: The library of Alexandria is destroyed by fire. It was said to contain a copy of every book on Earth.

As Ray Bradbury knew, the freedom to go on reading what those who lived before us wrote is not to be sniffed at.

]]> By: David Heigham http://blog.prospectblogs.com/2008/04/27/writing-thinking-dreaming/#comment-4404 David Heigham Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:15:31 +0000 http://blog.prospectblogs.com/2008/04/27/writing-thinking-dreaming/#comment-4404 The relationship between medium and content is older than writing. The Koran - and, of course, Homer - are shaped by the medium of oral recitation. Gilgamesh for me has an underlying flavour of being written on clay tablets. Many Chinese documents - from Confucious onwards - reflect patterns of thinking that are other than alphabetic. And all of these I only know in English translation. Eighteenth and nineteenth century novels often reflect theatrical concepts of scenes and acts. Theatre infects cinema; and vice-versa. Recorded sound changes the way we alphabetic writers handle remembered and imagined sound.(Does it have the same effect for thsoe who write in ideograms?) And all the widening panorama enriches our power to dream. One of the virtues of computers is that the ease of revision empowers us to get closer to what we meant to say. And closer to admitting the reality that we never perfectly understand what we mean to say. Let us give thanks for all we inherit in our generation; and make of it more than we think we can. Even in a blog. The relationship between medium and content is older than writing. The Koran - and, of course, Homer - are shaped by the medium of oral recitation. Gilgamesh for me has an underlying flavour of being written on clay tablets. Many Chinese documents - from Confucious onwards - reflect patterns of thinking that are other than alphabetic. And all of these I only know in English translation.

Eighteenth and nineteenth century novels often reflect theatrical concepts of scenes and acts. Theatre infects cinema; and vice-versa. Recorded sound changes the way we alphabetic writers handle remembered and imagined sound.(Does it have the same effect for thsoe who write in ideograms?) And all the widening panorama enriches our power to dream.

One of the virtues of computers is that the ease of revision empowers us to get closer to what we meant to say. And closer to admitting the reality that we never perfectly understand what we mean to say.

Let us give thanks for all we inherit in our generation; and make of it more than we think we can. Even in a blog.

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