Week 6: Special Archives

     Having received the opportunity to traverse the deep-secret vault underneath the university's library and explore it's deepest treasures (this is exactly how I explained our field trip to my friends), I got the chance to see some really awesome stuff. It is not often I think about book history (a surprise, I know), so being able to visualize all of the different formats that "books" and stories took was informative. I had no clue that palm leaves or even animal hide were a medium for writing text, so being able to interact with those mediums connected me to the history of those texts. I believe all art is temporary at best- that as viewers we don't just change art with our interpretations of it- but that even physically interacting with art alters it fundamentally. This is proof enough. Literature before computers is a fragile thing, so to see it in such a preserved state was a unique experience. Seeing the evolution, too, from tablets to animal hide to scrolls to accordions to what we now call a book showed that books, something I always just think of as a permanent fixture of history, also have a complicated history (don't even get me started on tiny books- those are super cool!). 

    I would be interested in learning more about hieroglyphics and other similar forms of recording language. I would also like to know how ancient languages are translated or preserved. Did somebody look at the dilapidated tablets of the recovered Epic of Gilgamesh and somehow translate to modern language? Was there some sort of dictionary or form of preservation for these ancient languages, or is it really just deciphering them based solely on found texts and tablets? 

Comments

  1. Eloise DanielloOctober 28, 2022 at 12:18 AM

    Hey Jalen! I love how you wrote this post, it's hilarious. I totally agree that it was actually a really cool experience and I'm happy we visited because I don't think I ever would have gone there on my own. It was also fun being in our own little group and having that tour guide because her personality was pretty quirky and fun.

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  2. Catalina DegnanOctober 28, 2022 at 1:03 AM

    Hey Jalen, I love your writing style and the way you phrased our experience today! It was mind-blowing to me as well to see all the different types of mediums a text can be made out of. I agree, I would love to know more about the translation process, it seems like a very heavy undertaking to go and translate a text that is originally in a completely distinct and ancient language.

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  3. Monique Cov.October 28, 2022 at 4:24 PM

    Hey Jalen, I loved the perspective you put on our trip to the Archives and Special Collections Vault! I am pretty much the same, I have never really put much thought into the actual mediums of book history. It wasn't until this class where I really started learning more about it with such an emphasis. In the past I have pretty much just glazed over the topic. Thank you for sharing your perspective!

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  4. HeatherLOctober 29, 2022 at 11:37 PM

    Hey Jalen! I totally agree that viewer interpretation and physical interaction with art changes it, and I think the books we saw on Thursday were a great example. It's sort of strange to think about something as ubiquitous as a book being a work of art, but after seeing so many carefully illustrated, hand-carved, and finely-bound books, I think the label is certainly fitting!

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  5. Griffin JonesOctober 30, 2022 at 7:14 PM

    I totally agree that the medium on which the texts were created was a really interesting part of the history of the text. The form had a lot to do with time period geographic location, culture, and the artistic choices of the creator of the text. I didn't know so much I could learn about a text only from the form.

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  6. Gema Sanchez GamezOctober 31, 2022 at 12:00 AM

    Hi Jalen, I also thought that it was super interesting to see works of literature preserved so carefully! Although electronics make the reading process super efficient, it's totally different to hold a piece that has so much history. Not only did the story require careful thought, but a lot of work was put into making the sheet the words are written on!

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  7. Andrew BautistaOctober 31, 2022 at 12:32 AM

    This Archive visit also really had me thinking about how we preserve and interpret ancient literature. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest piece of literature in the world, so it's insane to me that we even have access to it nowadays. I'm even considering tackling this topic for the intertextual project.

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