The Written Word Remains, 2012
Nikki Webb and Ken Daley, USA
| The Written Word Remains,
Nikki Webb and Ken Daley, Chesapeake & Norfolk, Virginia, USA,
2012 For this book, Webb and Daley invited contributions from six other colleagues and advanced print media students. They were asked to offer their reflections on the meaning of the book’s title: Littera Scripta Manet (the written word remains). This is an adage that has been in our language since Roman times. It is often attributed to Horace. A great leap in the evolution of human consciousness was the codification of spoken language into written signs and symbols. The development of the scroll and then of the paginated book expanded human access to knowledge and ideas. The book itself, a vehicle information and meaning, became a symbol and a source of power. Such power is always a target of ideological iconoclasts who would attempt to destroy all manifestations of opposing truth. But neither the burning of books nor the murder of booksellers and the readers of books will ever prevail. The written word cannot be extinguished through violent acts, nor can such acts ever be justified. Their moments of mayhem only live in infamy as symbols of wasteful, pointless, and useless ignorance. The dimensions of the book are 10 inches high by 13 inches in length; the book may be read in either eastern or western modes. Media used: Letterpress, Stone Lithography; Screenprint, and Digital Printing Domenica Arcuri Webb  dwebb@odu.edu kdaley@odu.edu |