The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict between Word and Image
This groundbreaking book proposes that the rise of alphabetic literacy reconfigured the human brain and brought about profound changes in history, religion, and gender relations. Making remarkable connections across brain function, myth, and anthropology, Dr. Shlain shows why pre-literate cultures were principally informed by holistic, right-brain modes that venerated the Goddess, images, and feminine values. Writing drove cultures toward linear left-brain thinking and this shift upset the...
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This groundbreaking book proposes that the rise of alphabetic literacy--the process of reading and writing--fundamentally reconfigured the human brain, and brought about profound changes in history, religion, and gender relations. Making remarkable connections across brain function, myth, and anthropology, Leonard Shlain shows why agricultural preliterate cultures were principally informed by holistic, right-brain modes that venerated the Goddess and feminine values and images. Writing, particularly alphabets, drove cultures toward linear left-brain thinking. This shift upset the balance between men and women, initiating the decline of the feminine, and also ushered in the reign of patriarchy and misogyny. Examining the cultures of the Israelites, Greeks, Christians, and Muslims, he reinterprets many myths and parables in light of his theory. Shlain traces the effect of literacy on the Dark Ages, Mary, Gutenberg, the Reformation, and the witch hunts. Shlain ends his book with an optimistic appraisal that the proliferation of images in film, TV, graphics, and computers is once again reconfiguring the brain by encouraging right hemispheric modes of thought and bringing about the reemergence of the feminine.
INTRODUCTION\ This groundbreaking book proposes that the rise of alphabetic literacy reconfigured the human brain and brought about profound changes in history, religion, and gender relations. Making remarkable connections across brain function, myth, and anthropology, Dr. Shlain shows why pre-literate cultures were principally informed by holistic, right-brain modes that venerated the Goddess, images, and feminine values. Writing drove cultures toward linear left-brain thinking and this shift upset the balance between men and women, initiating the decline of the feminine and ushering in patriarchal rule. Examining the cultures of the Israelites, Greeks, Christians, and Muslims, Shlain reinterprets ancient myths and parables in light of his theory. Provocative and inspiring, this book is a paradigm-shattering work that will transform your view of history and the mind.\ \ ABOUT LEONARD SHLAIN\ Leonard Shlain is the author of the acclaimed Art and Physics: Parallel Visions in Space, Time, and Light, soon to be a twenty-three-part MSNBC TV series. He has written for many publications, including the Los Angeles Times, and lectures widely on the connection between art and science, and on the subject of this book. A true Renaissance man, he is also the chief of laproscopic surgery at the UC San Francisco Medical Center. He lives in Mill Valley, California.\ \ AN INTERVIEW WITH LEONARD SHLAIN\ You base your thesis on the idea that literacy—or the use of the alphabet—is primarily a left-brain activity, one that also represses right-brain activity. Can you elaborate on how the repression of right-brain activities would lead to misogynist societies?\ \ DISCUSSION QUESTIONS\ \ Throughout the book Shlain emphasizes the dualities inherent in the experience of living—life/death, yin/yang, reason/madness. Why do you think it is important to recognize these dualities? Can you think of examples in your own life in which opposing forces work together to create both negative and positive change?\
PrefaceVIIAcknowledgmentsXI1.Image/Word12.Hunters/Gatherers83.Right Brain/Left Brain174.Males: Death/Females: Life285.Nonverbal/Verbal406.Cuneiform/Marduk457.Hieroglyphs/Isis538.Aleph/Bet649.Hebrews/Israelites7210.Abraham/Moses8711.Thera/Matzah10312.Adam/Eve11213.Cadmus/Alpha12014.Sappho/Ganymede13215.Dionysus/Apollo13616.Athens/Sparta14917.Lingam/Yoni15918.Birth/Death16819.Yin/Yang17920.Taoism/Confucianism18721.B.C./A.D.20322.Jesus/Christ21323.Death/Rebirth22224.Patriarchs/Heretics23725.Reason/Madness25226.Illiteracy/Celibacy, 500-100026127.Muslin Veils/Muslim Words27828.Mystic/Scholastic, 1000-130029229.Humanist/Egoist, 1300-150030930.Protestant/Catholic32331.Faith/Hate34132.Sorcery/Science36233.Positive/Negative, 1648-189937834.Id/Superego, 1900-194539335.Page/Screen, 1945-2000407Epilogue430Notes433Bibliography445Index454
