The Small Machine Talks to Johanna Drucker
Episode 99, Recorded on February 23, 2023
I had an absolutely fascinating conversation w/ Johanna Drucker about magical alphabets, artists' books & more on the Small Machine Talks. Listen here.
By Onceinawhile - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=124145864
NOTE OF PRAISE
Inventing the Alphabet took me on a fascinating journey through religion, history, mysticism, archeology and more. Its main thesis is that the alphabet was invented rather than discovered and is continuing to be a vital and important tool of communication. It’s a mammoth book with numerous samples of the alphabet as discovered on coins, vessels, in tunnels and waterways, studied in compendiums, tables and documents and collected over centuries. Inventing the Alphabet made me question the role of the alphabet, how the biases of its researchers led to misconceptions and its use as an ideological tool. To quote from the book, “The alphabet was not created to do the administrative work of a king, to take care of accounting, or to enable monumental inscriptions. It emerged from marginal, modest, small-scale marks and signs.”
I found the work engrossing and wide-ranging with a healthy dose of whimsy, which is also present in Johanna Drucker’s other works, including her artist’s books. Inventing the Alphabet engages with materiality and takes us on a close-up journey inside the alphabet, including the controversies surrounding its origins.
Thanks to Johanna for being on the show, to Jennifer Pederson for the intro and outro, to Charles Earl for processing and to you for listening to and sharing the episodes each month.
Stay tuned for our March episode, which will be our 100th episode!. another in our extra-literary thread where we discuss page-adjacent aspects of literary, small press and visual poetry subjects. Our next guest is book doctor, Christine McNair, who will talk to us about her job in book conservation as well as book binding and other interesting subjects.
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