How Writing Made Us Human, 3000 BCE to Now

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Walter Stephens (Charles S Singleton Professor of italian Studies, The Johns Hopkins University)

How Writing Made Us Human, 3000 BCE to Now

Walter Stephens (Charles S Singleton Professor of italian Studies, The Johns Hopkins University)

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English

Johns Hopkins University Press
10 October 2023

Literature, Poetry & Criticism; Literary theory; Social & cultural history; History of engineering & technology

Series: Information Cultures

A sweeping history of how writing has preserved cultural practices, traditions, and knowledge throughout human history.

In How Writing Made Us Human, 3000 BCE to Now, Walter Stephens condenses the massive history of the written word into an accessible, engaging narrative. The history of writing is not merely a record of technical innovations—from hieroglyphics to computers—but something far richer: a chronicle of emotional engagement with written culture whose long arc intimates why the humanities are crucial to society.

For five millennia, myths and legends provided fascinating explanations for the origins and uses of writing. These stories overflowed with enthusiasm about fabled personalities (both human and divine) and their adventures with capturing speech and preserving memory. Stories recounted how and why an ancient Sumerian king, a contemporary of Gilgamesh, invented the cuneiform writing system—or alternatively, how the earliest Mesopotamians learned everything from a hybrid man-fish. For centuries, Jews and Christians debated whether Moses or God first wrote the Ten Commandments. Throughout history, some myths of writing were literary fictions. Plato's tale of Atlantis supposedly emerged from a vast Egyptian archive of world history. Dante's vision of God as one infinite book inspired Borges's fantasy of the cosmos as a limitless library, while the nineteenth century bequeathed Mary Shelley's apocalyptic tale of a world left with innumerable books but only one surviving reader.

Stephens presents a comprehensive history of the written word and demonstrates how writing has preserved and shaped human life since the Bronze Age. These stories, their creators, and their preservation have inspired wonder and an endless appetite for historical revelation.

By: Walter Stephens (Charles S Singleton Professor of italian Studies The Johns Hopkins University)
Imprint: Johns Hopkins University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 44mm
Weight: 953g
ISBN: 9781421446646
ISBN 10: 1421446642
Series: Information Cultures
Pages: 576
Publication Date: 10 October 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Walter Stephens (BALTIMORE, MD) is the Charles S. Singleton Professor of Italian Studies, emeritus, at Johns Hopkins University. He is the coeditor of Literary Forgery in Early Modern Europe, 1450–1800.

Reviews for How Writing Made Us Human, 3000 BCE to Now

An enjoyable and stimulating read . . . Stephens has produced a fascinating story of twists and turns. —The Conversation How Writing Made Us Human tells its tales well. It is accessible but still reassuringly knowledgeable. —Spectator