March 05, 2008

Is Sven Birkerts correct about the Gutenberg Elegies--empirical evidence on illiteracy?

Well, I was just reading a book review of the Gutenberg Elegies by Sven Birkerts, published in 1996 by Dr. Elizabeth Murphy of the University of Newfoundland. Among her credentials and awards are the following: B.Ed., M.Ed. Memorial, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. Université Laval, Winner of President's Award for Outstanding Research, 2007-2008. Finally, I thought! A reviewer that will be a bit more erudite than most who wander the virtual halls of Amazon's bookstore. However, my enthusiasm waned when I got to the second paragraph where Professor Murphy in quoting Birkerts, uses the word 'vehicule.' Is that supposed to be vehicle? Are my literacy skills degrading or does this little case study help comfirm Birkerts's thesis about the degradation of linguistic abilities. I can tell you one thing. If my grandfather were around--Columbia graduate 1913, Latin teacher, Russian translator, and Biblical scholar--on his slow days and I had made a linguistic faux pas--regardless of the reason--I'd have gotten an earful! Book Review Oh, yea, I put that 's in on purpose to see if you were paying attention ; 0