Our visit to archives and special collections was more interesting than I expected. One of the most eye-opening realizations this visit gave me was how many different forms of "books" there are. There are so many unique ways of putting text to paper throughout history. For example, Antigone was written on Papyrus. It was interesting to see an actual papyrus fragment of the play in the special collections exhibit because it connects one to the play's time period along with the words written. It is an extremely unstable material as well. The Epic of Gilgamesh was etched in cuneiform on large tablets. While the library did not have any of the actual tablets, we got to see a receipt from that time. It was a very small tablet with a tiny bit of cuneiform signifying the purchase of a good. First, we saw Papyrus, then the stone tablets, and then we got to look at the Scroll of Esther. This was how a lot of middle age writing was done. Long scrolls like these would be wound up to be stored away, and unwound again when they were to be read. There were also other texts written on animal skin which is highly durable. Other forms were also made of pulp or mulberry paper. All these different forms made me ask myself: What is a book? How is defined now and how will that definition change with the advancements in technology?
Regarding what I would be interested in learning more about, I want to look further into the different materials that books were made out of. I want to look at this further to answer the question as to why texts like Antigone were written in Papyrus. Was this the only way it was written down in its time? Were there other mediums used? Could Antigone have survived in greater entirety if written on something else that was also available in that time and place?
Hey, John! I thought similarly about Antigone's preservation. I do think that it may have helped if there was a less fragile way to create literature back then, but I doubt that would have helped. I think Antigone's preservation is so shakey largely due to the fact the plays in general weren't as well tracked and written down. I think that the issue lies with the way it was recorded, largely orally and not in one definitive text.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting just how many forms of recorded texts there are. I think everyone can agree that when they think of a book, the only thing that comes to mind for most people is rectangular shaped paper stacked to be flipped through. It really gets you thinking about ancient texts' preservation, and how different it was to produce books back then.
ReplyDeleteYou're exactly right that technology is key to what we call a "book" and how answers to that question change over time.
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