Body Text: Typography and the Corporeality of Literature

Abstract

In one of his fragments, Georg Christoph Lichtenberg declares that German books printed in roman type, instead of the blackletter that was the standard type of the time, always give him a feeling that he needs to translate them – which shows, he says, “how much our concepts are dependent on these characters.” The article elaborates on this idea. It explores the relation between literature, text (abstract and material), and typography, and argues – by means of bibliographical theory, Goethe’s mother, Jean-Luc Nancy, Roman Ingarden, and a diagnostic comparison between handwriting and digital fonts – that the long-standing idealistic view within literary criticism and history, of the “content” of texts as independent of the materiality and form of books and texts, obstructs scholarly efforts to understand. Text is not only representation; it is also presentation. Text has form, and the form produces meaning.

Keywords

• Typography and typeface
• material text
• bibliographical theory
• ontology of literature
• Jean-Luc Nancy’s phenomenology of reading

Beden Metin: Tipografi ve Edebiyatın Bedenselliği

Abstract

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, fragmanlarından birinde, döneminin standart yazı karakteri olan gotik yazı (blackletter) yerine roman yazı karakteriyle basılmış Almanca kitapların kendisinde her zaman onları tercüme etmesi gerekiyormuş hissi uyandırdığını söyler; bu da, ona göre, “kavramlarımızın bu karakterlere ne kadar bağımlı olduğunu” göstermektedir. Bu makale söz konusu düşünceyi geliştirir. Edebiyat, metin (soyut ve maddi) ve tipografi arasındaki ilişkiyi inceleyen çalışma; bibliyografik teori, Goethe’nin annesi, Jean-Luc Nancy, Roman Ingarden ve el yazısı ile dijital yazı karakterleri arasındaki tanısal bir karşılaştırmadan hareketle, edebiyat eleştirisi ve tarihinde uzun zamandır hâkim olan, metinlerin “içeriğini” kitapların ve metinlerin maddiliğinden ve biçiminden bağımsız gören idealist yaklaşımın, akademik anlama çabalarını engellediğini ileri sürmektedir. Metin yalnızca temsil (representation) değildir; aynı zamanda sunumdur (presentation). Metnin bir biçimi vardır ve bu biçim anlam üretir.

Keywords

• Tipografi ve yazı karakteri
• maddi metin
• bibliyografik teori
• edebiyat ontolojisi
• Jean-Luc Nancy’nin okuma fenomenolojisi

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