cover image The History and Uncertain Future of Handwriting

The History and Uncertain Future of Handwriting

Anne Trubek. Bloomsbury, $26 (192p) ISBN 978-1-62040-215-3

What does the future hold for the oldest analog communication technology: writing by hand? Do we really need it? Trubek, publisher of Belt Magazine, explores these questions in a thoroughly enjoyable slim volume that begins with scratches on clay tablets and ends with National Handwriting Day, which is celebrated every January 23, the birthday of John Hancock, the man who signed his name so dramatically on the Declaration of Independence. Ancient Sumerian writing was limited to records and ceremony. Literacy became essential to a cultured person in ancient Greece with the invention of the modern alphabet, but not everyone welcomed it. Socrates believed that writing made men stupid by eliminating memory: “If you ask a piece of writing a question, it remains silent.” Trubek emphasizes that every revolution in written communication produces similar complaints: printed books were seen as fit only for the less educated, and now some believe that typing and email rob us of the individuality and intimacy of handwritten letters. Additionally she also explores the various ways handwriting has been linked to personal character. Trubek ends her delightful history with the conclusion that handwriting will not vanish but perhaps, like letterpress printing, become a fine art. (Sept.)