New Directions in the History of Written Culture

• Published in: Culture & history digital journal Vol. 1; no. 2; p. e007
• Main Author: Lyons, Martyn
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas 01.12.2012
• Subjects: correspondence; emigration; modern france; modern italy; modern spain; world war one
• ISSN: 2253-797X; 2253-797X
• DOI: 10.3989/chdj.2012.007

This article reviews some new directions in the history of writing practices, concentrating on Western Europe and the Americas in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I identify some major intellectual influences on the field, deriving from historiography, anthropology and literary studies. I indicate some important archives specialising in popular writings which sustain the study of the writings of ordinary and semi-literate people. A few selected topics in which the history of writing practices makes a contribution are then briefly reviewed. These are, firstly, the history of correspondence and letter-writing instruction manuals, which introduces two important concepts: the ‘epistolary pact’ and ‘epistolary literacy’. Secondly, I introduce three new works on the development of postal services, stressing their role in forging national cohesion. Thirdly, I indicate how the study of emigrants’ writings has contributed to a shift of focus in the study of emigration in general. I conclude that the history of scribal culture can make a significant contribution to socio-cultural history, provided that writing is analysed in its material form, and as a text, not simply as a source of information. Writing practices deserve serious study as a social and cultural phenomenon in their own right.