The Letter and the Cosmos
How the Alphabet Has Shaped the Western View of the World
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- $25.99
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- $25.99
Publisher Description
From our first ABCs to the Book of Revelation’s statement that Jesus is “the Alpha and Omega,” we see the world through our letters. More than just a way of writing, the alphabet is a powerful concept that has shaped Western civilization and our daily lives. In The Letter and the Cosmos, Laurence de Looze probes that influence, showing how the alphabet has served as a lens through which we conceptualize the world and how the world, and sometimes the whole cosmos, has been perceived as a kind of alphabet itself. Beginning with the ancient Greeks, he traces the use of alphabetic letters and their significance from Plato to postmodernism, offering a fascinating tour through Western history.
A sharp and entertaining examination of how languages, letterforms, orthography, and writing tools have reflected our hidden obsession with the alphabet, The Letter and the Cosmos is illustrated with copious examples of the visual and linguistic phenomena which de Looze describes. Read it, and you’ll never look at the alphabet the same way again.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
De Looze, a professor of modern languages and literature, thoughtfully investigates the fundamental role played by the alphabet in Western culture. He examines the alphabetic letters as a complex phenomenon that says "something about our world and the way we view it." In the Middle Ages, the alphabet could be seen as analogous of creation itself; during Renaissance, it was the expression of humanity and intellectual achievements through reason; in the epoch of Enlightenment, it was a primary means of indicating one's association with civilized society. In the modern era, technologies opened opportunities for modifications and experiments with the form, disposition, and meaning of the alphabetic letters that can be seen in typography and architecture. De Looze writes that while the English alphabet has taken over the world, the world has also taken over the English alphabet, as witnessed in text messaging and social media, which he labels "a true globalization." This richly illustrated book is a scholarly text, but it will appeal to and inspire a broad audience.
