The Coming of Literate Communication to Western Culture

In The Coming of Literate Communication to Western Culture by Eric A. Havelock, he explains the complex history of how our written language came to be. Starting in Ancient Greece, the Greeks played an integral role in the creation of our modern written language. He claims as the Greeks began to create what is now known as Greek classical culture, the idea of literacy started to emerge. A reoccurring idea throughout the text is that literacy started with non-literacy. Meaning culture and language are not dependent on literacy, rather literacy is dependent upon a type of cultural condition that takes time for its use to be recognized and revered.

Although I felt Havelock did a good job explaining some of the historical roots of literacy, I found myself wondering how the Greeks invented the five vowels that are key to our modern written language.

The most interesting part of the text came towards the end when Havelock explained some of the problems the Greeks had getting people to learn and study this new written form of communication.  As Havelock puts it two things stood between the Greeks and becoming literate.  The non-existence of reading material and the lack of methods for teaching younger generations to read and write proved to be some of the greatest challenges this new form of communication had.

I also found Havelock’s connection between the speaker and his words versus the writer and his words very interesting. As I understand it, Havelock seems to notice a certain detachment from the author and his or her words. Writers almost never write the way they talk. Therefore it can be said, writing may not be the purest form of communication because it does not accurately describe the authors personality. On the other hand, one could say writing helps authors think critically and methodically about the words they use versus saying whatever first comes to mind.

Overall I though this reading was interesting and informative.