The Written World

May 22, 2017
In this timely chronicle, Puchner, a professor of English and comparative literature at Harvard University, tells the story both of the ideas that shaped civilization and the equally crucial technology that transmitted and preserved those ideas. Literature here means more than just fiction: it encompasses publication platforms, such as newspapers, and various formats of political speech, such as the manifesto and the pamphlet, as well as poetry and foundational religious texts. Puchner sweeps from the ancient civilizations that produced The Epic of Gilgamesh to contemporary fascination with the invented world of Harry Potter, with stops along the way in classical Greece, the insular court of 11th-century Japan, 16th-century Mayan culture, the turmoil of 19th-century Europe, and the violent repression of 20th-century totalitarian regimes, among other settings. The technological revolutions he explores include the rise of paper, the book’s ascendancy over the scroll, and the development of printing from early wood blocks to the extraordinary process perfected by Gutenberg. Finally, he comes to the digital present, leaving the reader curious to see the next, still-to-be-written chapter of the written word. By providing snapshots of key moments in the written word’s evolution, Puchner creates a gripping intellectual odyssey. Agent: Jill Kneerim, Kneerim & Williams.

June 15, 2017

Byron and Anita Wein Professor of Drama and of English and Comparative Literature at Harvard University, Puchner doesn't just tell us about the important works of literature that have shaped civilization over 4,000 years, from The Epic of Gilgamesh to Don Quixote to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. He tells us about the people whose personal persuasions led them to create those works. It's literature not as mirror, then, but as potent force.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2017
The world is shaped by books, and human history by texts sacred and profane: so this thoughtful treatise by the general editor of the Norton Anthology of World Literature."Literature isn't just for book lovers," writes Puchner (English and Comparative Literature/Harvard Univ.; The Drama of Ideas: Platonic Provocations in Theater and Philosophy, 2010, etc.), after opening with a thesis that isn't quite novel but bears thinking about nonetheless: we gain much of our sense of history, morality, ethics, and religion through works of the imagination. Thus it's no surprise that the astronauts who landed on the moon in 1969 couched their expressions of wonder in the words of the Bible or that Alexander the Great patterned his wars against the backdrop of the Homeric epics ("he wanted to meet Darius in a traditional battle and defeat him in single combat, the way Achilles had met and defeated Hector"). Sometimes, Puchner wanders into gods-for-clods territory, and his take is a little old-fashioned in its mistrust of technology and hints of disdain for mass culture of the Harry Potter variety; still, it's all to the greater good of recognizing the significance of literature and its study. The book provides a nice collection of oddments of the bibliophilic nature, fitting neatly alongside works by Nicholas Basbanes and Alberto Manguel: it's illuminating to know that the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal was once an accountant and "realized that his store of knowledge was useful only if it was organized," giving birth to the world's first known scheme of library classification; it's also well to recognize that we know so much more about the Heian court of medieval Japan than about almost any other government of the time thanks to The Tale of Genji. In mounting a learned and, yes, literate defense for literature as an instrument of mind and memory, Puchner also argues against literary fundamentalism, allowing texts to be seen as living things and allowing "readers of each generation to make these texts their own." A lucid entertainment for the humanists in the audience.

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September 1, 2017

Puchner (English & comparative literature, Harvard Univ.; The Drama of Ideas; coeditor, Norton Anthology of World Literature) looks at a number of diverse and influential works of world literature, from the Iliad and Epic of Gilgamesh through The Tale of Genji and the Popol Vuh to Derek Walcott's Omeros and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter. He examines how these stories are refracted through the effects of writing and writing technologies in various cultures: from scribes marking clay tablets to the development of papyrus to paper, printing, and the Internet. The author is also interested in the influence of prominent readers in shaping the concept of literature and literacy: for example, Ezra on the Bible, Benjamin Franklin on popular media, Goethe on world literature, or Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong, and Ho Chi Minh on The Communist Manifesto. Puchner's work frequently reads like a book meant to accompany a television series on world literature, offering personal accounts of his visits to the historical sites associated with the works he discusses. VERDICT Informative and engaging, Puchner's work provides a substantive but accessible account of the culture of writing and the transmission of literature. Of value to both general readers and specialists. [See Prepub Alert, 5/22/17.]--Thomas L. Cooksey, formerly with Armstrong Atlantic State Univ., Savannah

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.