Historian Josephine Quinn rightly identifies the revolutionary impact of adopting the alphabet on western culture (“The civilisation myth”, The Weekend Essay, Life & Arts, FT Weekend, February 3).
The American surgeon and author Leonard Shlain explores this in his 1998 book The Alphabet Versus the Goddess.
He argues that adopting literacy in ancient societies fundamentally reconfigured the human brain and brought profound changes in religion, science and the relationship between the sexes.
Preliterate, matriarchal societies were informed by holistic, right-brained modes of awareness that venerated the Goddess and feminine values and images. The written word propels cultures towards linear, left-brained thought, and the ascendancy of patriarchal rule and misogyny.
Quinn criticises deluded white nationalists vigorously defending a mythological cultural heritage.
Shlain concludes his book on an optimistic note, observing that the proliferation of images on television and the internet is once again reconfiguring the brain, infusing right-brained values into the culture, and repudiating the bulwarks of written-word-based authority.
The verdict is still out on whether a return to feminine ways of knowing can prevail over the anger of white men.
Ian Griffin
Vallejo, CA, US
