ORIGINAL POST DATE: November 2, 2005

This latest quote from the pages of my Moleskineⁱ pocket diary is from the beginning of the book Mysteries of the Alphabet by Marc-Alain Ouaknin:

"The magical alphabet, the mysterious hieroglyphic, merely reach us incomplete and distorted, either by time or by those very people who have a vested interest in our ignorance; let us find the lost letter or obliterated sign, let us re-create the dissonant scale and we shall gain strength from the world of the mind." - Gérard de Nerval (1808 - 1855)

It is precisely the mysterious aspect of ancient scripts that makes them compelling to the artist and poet alike. Nerval was a French poet and bohemian, a friend of Baudelaire. I am not sure what larger context this quote is taken from, but I gather from reading his short biography HERE that he was the kind of writer that was drawn into the mysteries of ancient signs and symbols. As an artist it has always been interesting for me to try to see beyond the commonplace usage of language to the deeper symbols embedded in the words and letters themselves. Nerval's quote is a call to examine this magical aspect of the alphabet, and he even tempts us with a touch of conspiracy theory suggesting that there are deliberate means that keep us from knowing the truth. The challenge is finding something within the symbols of letters, whether contemporary or ancient, that carries deeper meaning for ourselves, since the original meaning attributed by the first writers of these alphabets are forever lost to us. Perhaps it was the way the first writing tools fit the hand that influenced their forms, that the charcoal stick or quill played an integral part in their development and left their own natural imprint into this human communication. Whatever the origin, whatever the form, Nerval's quote asks us to take time to contemplate these letterforms as a way to strengthen our minds. Considering that many early Greek philosophers felt that writing weakens the mind by removing the need for memorization, it may be good advice indeed!

Magical Alphabet Quote from my Moleskine Diary

Here are a few good books on the history of the alphabet:

Mysteries of the Alphabet by Marc-Alain Ouaknin

The Alphabetic Labyrinth: Letters in History and Imagination by Johanna Drucker

Magical Alphabets by Nigel Pennick

The Alphabet Abecedarium: Some Notes on Letters by Richard A. Firmage