Martin Puchner Promotes His Newest Non-Fiction Work THE WRITTEN WORD - Not Smitten

Harvard Prof. & award winning author, poet, playwright, Martin Puchner (b Germany 1969) spoke at the 92ndY to promote his new work of non-fiction THE WRITTEN WORD.  Puchner has received  numerous literary & poetry awards.  I award him an A for his cogent but arid summary of THE WRITTEN WORD.  Puchner's talk was only 45 minutes.  Fifteen minutes were wasted by his intro & request for symposium volunteers and self-indulgent Q&A's.  However, the organized historical clarification for the origination of the written word was traced back more than 5,000 years to Mesopotamia.  Puchner made it clear it remains ambiguous as to the origin of the origin for the written language.  The Mesopotamian King's orders sent by messengers became too complex to be recalled to be ordained.  Formed clay tablets inscripted with symbols were created to aid in conveying orders.  This notion was admired by the assumed subjective populations & emulated despite commands negated.  The power of this creative tool was found useful for economic usage.  Storytelling in written form followed its invention instituted for the purposes of dominance & economics.  Puchner described the merging of oral story telling with the written form as the "Big Bang Birth of Literature".  Puchner attributes the ILIAD as the first record of written epic storytelling.  The usage of writing was adapted to record sacred scripture attributed.  This is first attributed to Ezra the Jewish scribe.  He brought the Torah scrolls back to his homeland in exiled Babylon.  Other religions; Christianity & Islamic sects followed suite finding sacred scripture as a powerful means for proselytism and conversion.  The most enlightening reference from this discussion was learning ancient charismatic teachers; Christ, Socrates and philosophers from Greece, India, China, Egypt and Japan were vehemently opposed to utilizing writing to promulgate their teachings desirous of only relying on an oral tradition of teachings (hmm).   Only after the passings of these prominent speakers did deciples decide there was merit in utilizing the written word.  The discussion ended with the impact of technology on writings as a means of communication & literature.  The advent of paper in China (& its process extracted in the Middle East) expedited the ease & proficiencies of writing.  Puchner allowed for consideration of today's technological advances via the internet in providing an over abundance of writing easily & readily accessible as a detriment.  Why Prof. Puchner would this be considered anything but an advance towards literacy, global connection and the sharing of knowledge? Your disdain for a plethora of subpar literature was judgmental and off-base.  However, I will be hypocritical and determine that after hearing you speak about your book THE WRITTEN WORD, spending time reading it would be absurd.