Ampersands

[Thomas Vieth]

Hey, that's a good idea! IMO we're again moving away from literacy. The 
only reason why we still read and write with the computer is that the 
technology isn't yet advanced enough, but give or take a few years we'll 
be talking to the thing and it'll talk right back to us. Of course, and 
elite few will continue to write and read, if only for psychological 
reasons. I myself am not that much of a picture person; I go to the 
cinema rather seldomly and never watch tv. 

Post-literacy will not be on the same level as pre-literacy, though. 
That's because human beings went through the phase of literacy. Think of 
Socrates' rejection of the written word as something that threatens our 
memory and then think of how our memory is bar far more threatened by 
post-literacy's databases and accessibility thereof via Internet and all 
that's coming.

In the realm of religion and mythology those icons you're referring to 
have always been around. Think of the Christian cross, the Aryan 
swastika, the Yin-Yang symbol, the Hexagrams of the I Ching, the 
Mandala. I, personally, wonder how far "modern" icons are related to 
Jungian archetypes, the way those others I named are.

BTW, you foax seem to be up and going rather early on the list. Here in 
Germany it's a beautiful, warm, and sunny mid-afternoon, but in the US 
of A it's early morning, isn't it? Here, many students are hanging 
around on the campus lawn and enjoy the sun; even though, there are 
quite a few people here in the library. I just got back from a nice stay 
in our botanic garden which is extraordinarily beautiful.

But enough of that, foax. Bye

----Original Message Follows----
Date:	Tue, 3 Jun 1997 09:21:28 -0400 (EDT)
From:	ac038 at osfn.rhilinet.gov (Paul DiFilippo)
To:	pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: Ampersands



Can the ampersand be read as a kind of primitive foreshadowing
of computer icons, a non-alphabetic signifier pointing toward
pre or post-literacy?

--
Paul Di Filippo & Deborah Newton/2 Poplar St./Prov., RI 02906
"So far as the interests of the capitalist go it does not matter
whether he invests his money at home or abroad; it does not matter
whether his goods are manufactured in London or Timbuctoo." HG Wells


Thomas Vieth
Down with Triolahidi
Long live Hollerodullyo



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