TECA

The Roots of Writing. Origins, Developments, Methodologies of Investigation of Writing Expressions

Mattia Cartolano — 2023-07-27

The present volume collects the six essays of the seminar series “The Roots of Writing”, which consisted of the dialogue between researchers and doctoral students from various departments of the University of Bologna and other university institutes, with the aim of discussing aspects relating to writing and its development, with an interdisciplinary approach. The introduction highlights the common thread of the various interventions, providing the reader with food for thought on the anthropological, historical, and cultural dynamics that determine the birth, use and development of writing.

Some Theoretical Perspectives on Writing. From Ontology to Semiotics

Marco Giacomazzi — 2023-07-27

This paper contributes to an in-depth reflection on the topic of the ‘roots of writing’ through a review of theories that have given it a definition or scientific framing. The aim of this essay is to demonstrate how different epistemological assumptions or systems of thought correspond to different definitions of the object ‘writing’, entailing different analytical consequences. Therefore, an attempt will be made to briefly illustrate some of the possible philosophical and semiotic perspectives on the subject, trying to relate them to the field of Media Studies. Thus, the work aims to fit within an interdisciplinary study of writing. Indeed, the comparison between different approaches will allow the inter-definition of some cross-disciplinary matters. On the one hand, our relationship with the materiality of the media that enable its realization; on the other, how writing brings out subjectivity as not transcendent and separate from the world, but deeply rooted in it.

Writing in Prehistory. Observations on Engraved Portable Objects in the Near Eastern Neolithic

Mattia Cartolano — 2023-07-27

The extraordinary spread of symbolic and ritual forms during the prehistoric phase of the Neolithic in the Near East is known as one of the most important developments in human evolution. Among these symbolic configurations, iconic and geometric representations have been the focus of several studies and discussions particularly in the last 50-60 years in the light of numerous archaeological discoveries that point to the extraordinary capacity for cooperation and communication among the inhabitants of the first large villages. The present work examines signs and images depicted on portable artefacts (n=304), such as stone tools and plaques, from 27 Neolithic settlements (dated approximately 9700-6600 BC) located in different regions of Southwest Asia. The proposed observations shed light on the possible use of such portable objects and in general on the origins of graphic communication in prehistory. It is thus argued that the invention of writing originated from the development of certain written communication systems that emerged as early as these crucial prehistoric stages.

Schemata sunt ornamenta eloquii: From Dancing to Scripture

Donatella Tronca — 2023-07-27

The article analyses the concept of schema in its broadest sense encompassing gesture and the form of letters of the alphabet. After reconstructing the influence that the Greek term had on the formulation of the Christian concept of dance, it considers the ways in which it was used in the Carolingian graphic reform. Alcuin of York uses schemata as a yardstick for perfect graphic signifiers and defines them in his Grammatica as ornaments of eloquence and the habitus for ‘dressing’ sentences. These schemata should not be interpreted in a merely abstract sense but as concrete gestures, which also produce writing. Indeed, Alcuin conceived these teachings to produce Scripture par excellence; the biblical text provides the grounds to insert the concept of schema within the earliest Christology, inasmuch as schema/habitus indicates the human nature in which God is incarnate.

An Example of Writing as an Instrument of Agency: the Letters from the Mothers to the London Foundling Hospital in Victorian London

Roberta Zanasi — 2023-07-27

From painting to newspapers, from literature to homiletics, Victorian culture stigmatised the figure of the ‘fallen woman’ as it was considered a dangerous menace for a respectable society. For this reason, especially in the working class context, the mothers of illegitimate children were often marginalised even within their family circles. The Foundling Hospital aimed to house their ‘blank children’, teach them to read and prepare them for manual work, on condition that the mothers severed every link with their sons and daughters. Starting from the definition of ‘agency’ given by Anthony Giddens, this paper aims to demonstrate how letter writing became a powerful instrument of agency for the mothers who had their children admitted at the Foundling Hospital in mid-XIX century London. Letters became for them a way to overcome the strict rules of the institution and reaffirm their individuality in a context that considered them passive subjects.

Discarded Scripts, Reused Media. Phenomenology of the Manuscript Fragment and Its Reuse

Roberta Napoletano — 2023-07-27

This article aims to address an analysis of the phenomenon of waste and reuse of parchment from manuscripts and documents. After a brief presentation of the project related to manuscripts’ fragments found in the General Archiepiscopal Archive of Bologna, it will show a case study concerning the discovery of some sales notes of handwritten books from the Cathedral of S. Peter in Bologna.

A Correspondence in the Mirror: Giosue Carducci and Adriano Cecioni

Paola Vecchi — 2023-07-27

These pages cover themes and merits of the recent critical edition of the correspondence between Giosue Carducci and the Tuscan artist Adriano Cecioni, exponent and theorist of the current of the Macchiaioli. The article-review examines the contents of these letters, highlighting the reflection on art; and underlines the quality and different critical skills of the publisher of the work, Alberto Brambilla.

‘Dictionnaire historique des gens du livre au Québec’, sous la direction de Josée Vincent e Marie-Pier Luneau, avec la collaboration de Paul Aubin, et al., Montréal, Les Press de l’Université de Montréal, 2022

Paolo Tinti — 2023-07-27

‘The Burke Collection of Italian Manuscript Paintings’, edited by Sandra Hindman and Federica Toniolo, introduction by Christopher de Hamel, London, Ad Illissum, 2021

Lucrezia Signorello — 2023-07-27

Michele Campopiano, ‘Writing the Holy Land. The Franciscan of Mount Zion and the Construction of a Cultural Memory 1300-1550’, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020

Davide Martini — 2023-07-27

Illuminata Bembo, ‘Specchio di illuminazione. Redazione lunga. Edizione critica sulla base del ms. Ambrosiano Y46 Sup.’, a cura di Riccardo Pane, Firenze, SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2022

Roberta Napoletano — 2023-07-27

Giorgio Caravale, ‘Libri pericolosi. Censura e cultura italiana in età moderna’, Bari-Roma, Laterza, 2022

Anna Giulia Cavagna — 2023-07-27

Tiziana Plebani, ‘Alle donne che niente sanno. Mestieri femminili, alfabetizzazione e stampa nella Venezia del Rinascimento’, Venezia, Marsilio, 2022

Valentina Sestini — 2023-07-27

Bruna Conconi, ‘Quel che resta di un naufragio. Le edizioni cinque-seicentesche delle opere di Pietro Aretino nelle biblioteche di Francia: con un repertorio’, préface de Jean Balsamo, Gènève, Droz, 2021

Paolo Tinti — 2023-07-27

Lorenzo Baldacchini, ‘Il mio lungo viaggio tra libro antico e biblioteche’, Manziana, Vecchiarelli, 2021

Paolo Tinti — 2023-07-27

‘I professionisti della cultura al lavoro. Archivi, biblioteche e musei in Friuli Venezia Giulia e in Italia’, a cura di Linda Borean, Dimitri Brunetti, Udine, Forum, 2022

Stefano Malfatti — 2023-07-27

‘Tra cultura e mercato. Storie di editoria contemporanea’, a cura di Arianna Leonetti, Vicenza, Ronzani Editore, 2022

Roberta Cesana — 2023-07-27

Aldo Lo Presti, ‘Edizioni Esse: editore in Palermo (1969-1970)’, Palermo, Edizioni SO, (Editori; 6), 2022

Maria Gioia Tavoni — 2023-07-27