Analfabetos manuales

Decir que cada vez se escribe menos a mano es una tremenda obviedad. Pero por otra parte también han desaparecido las teclas de la máquina de escribir y hasta las teclas de los "smartphones" con sus "touch-screen". Todo ha cambiado muy deprisa pero, con teclas o sin ellas, el resultado es que nos hemos convertido en analfabetos manuales.

Cuando tenemos que escribir una pequeña nota parece que no nos sale la letra, que algo falla en el cerebro que no envía las órdenes adecuadas a nuestra mano, que duda sobre cómo deslizar el boligrafo o el lápiz sobre el papel. ¿Y cuándo fue la última carta que escribimos a mano? Yo creo que fue en la mili, pero eso fue hace -uf...- muchos años, incluso en el siglo pasado.

Y la caligrafía es el arte de escribir bien. También los que tenemos cierta edad hemos rellenado interminables cuadernos de caligrafía 'Rubio' tratando de domar la letra, que empezábamos con aquello de "mi mamá me mima". Bueno, era laborioso, pero tampoco suponía ninguna tortura.

Todo esto viene al hilo de una reseña de un libro que vi en The Wall Street Journal: 'Script and Scribble - The rise and fall of handwriting' de Kitty Burns Florey (Melville House, 190 págs. $22.95), un texto sobre los orígenes y la historia de la escritura, así como de diferentes métodos de enseñanza, sobre todo en Estados Unidos. Quién escribe la reseña, Cullen Murphy, dice lo siguiente:

"Does bad handwriting matter? In some ways, maybe not. Like everyone else, I tap away on a keyboard for 99% of all written communications. But nothing can replace the inmediacy an intimacy of words produced by a unique human hand". Y añade: "When Ronald Reagan decided to tell the world abut his battle with Alzheimer's, he wrote out his open letter with a fountain pen".

La propia autora, Ms. Florey, a propósito de la enseñanza de la escritura en estos tiempos, señala que "What would seem to make very good sense is to teach children a pleasantly legible handwriting that would also be fast". ¿Y por qué no? A mí me parece buena idea. Pero difícil: los niños van hoy con sus "laptops" a clase.

Lo que también me ha llamado la atención en el artículo es que al parecer fue el humanista italiano Poggio Bracciolini el introductor, hace 600 años, de lo que hoy conocemos como letra itálica. Y lo más curioso de todo es que yo conozco a varios Poggio.

La reflexión de la autora de 'Script and Scribble' se puede leer aquí: Preface: A Handwritten Life.

Books in the NYC Subway

These are some of the books that I’ve seen that people reads while riding the Subway in New York:

'Uncommon' by Tony Dungy
Super Bowl-winning coach and #1 New York Times bestselling author Tony Dungy has had an unusual opportunity to reflect on what it takes to achieve significance. He has worked every day with young men who are trying to achieve significance through football and all that goes with a professional athletic career —such as money, power, and celebrity. Coach Dungy passionately believes that there is a different path to significance, a path characterized by attitudes, ambitions, and allegiances that are all too rare but uncommonly rewarding. Uncommon reveals lessons on achieving significance he’s learned from his remarkable parents, his athletic and coaching career, his mentors, and his journey with God. See more.

'Houses by mail' by Katherine Cole Stevenson
A delightful look at America's past. From 1908 to 1940 some 100,000 people purchased their ready-to-assemble homes from Sear's mail order. Presented here are approximately 450 models sold by Sears together with a description, a picture, floor plans, prices and locations. See more.

'Critic of cynical reason' by Peter Sloterdijk
A philosophical treatise which finds cynicism the dominant mode in contemporary culture. In 1983, two centuries after the publication of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, another philosophical treatise—polemical in nature, with a title that consciously and disrespectfully alludes to the earlier work—appeared in West Germany. Peter Sloterdijk’s Critique of Cynical Reason stirred both critical acclaim and consternation and attracted a wide readership, especially among those who had come of age in the 1960’s. See more.

'Marching forward Hell -America and Islam after Irak-' by Michael Scheuer
When Michael Scheuer first questioned the goals of the Iraq War in his 2004 bestseller Imperial Hubris, policymakers and ordinary citizens alike stood up and took notice. Now, Scheuer offers a scathing and frightening look at how the Iraq War has been a huge setback to America's War on Terror, making our enemy stronger and altering the geopolitical landscape in ways that are profoundly harmful to U.S. interests and security concerns. See more.

'America, America' by Ethan Canin
In the early 1970s, Corey Sifter, the son of working-class parents, becomes a yard boy on the grand estate of the powerful Metarey family. Soon, through the family’s generosity, he is a student at a private boarding school and an aide to the great New York senator Henry Bonwiller, who is running for president. Before long, Corey finds himself involved with one of the Metarey daughters as well, and he begins to leave behind the world of his upbringing. As the Bonwiller campaign gains momentum, Corey finds himself caught up in a complex web of events in which loyalty, politics, sex, and gratitude conflict with morality, love, and the truth. Ethan Canin’s stunning novel is about America as it was and is, a remarkable exploration of how vanity, greatness, and tragedy combine to change history and fate. See more.

'The sun also rises' by Ernest Hemingway
The novel is a powerful insight into the lives and values of the so-called "Lost Generation", chronicling the experiences of Jake Barnes and several acquaintances on their pilgrimage to Pamplona (Spain) for the annual fiesta and bull fights. Barnes suffered an injury during World War I which makes him unable to consummate a sexual relationship with Brett Ashley. The story follows Jake and his various companions across France and Spain. Initially, Jake seeks peace away from Brett by taking a fishing trip to Burguete, deep within the Spanish hills, with companion Bill Gorton, another veteran of the war. The fiesta in Pamplona is the setting for the eventual meeting of all the characters, who play out their various desires and anxieties, alongside a great deal of drinking. See more.

Mamam died today

Comienzo la lectura de una novela de un autor francés. Estas son las primeras líneas:

"Mamam died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know. I got a telegram from the home: "Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours". That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday".

Relato de un náufrago

'Relato de un náufrago' es una historia deliciosa y sobrecogedora, el relato real de un suceso que Gabriel García Márquez publicó durante 14 días seguidos en El Espectador de Colombia: la noticia de que el 28 de febrero de 1955 ocho miembros de la tripulación del destructor Caldas, de la Marina de Guerrra de Colombia, habían caído al agua y desaparecido a causa de una tormenta en el mar Caribe.
La historia ya contiene un argumento poderoso pero la forma de contar, de relatar la vivencia de su protagonista -Luis Alejandro Velasco-, es el verdadero mérito del joven reportero García Márquez. Y un placer de leer en español.

"Me extendí, moribundo, sobre la tierra dura y tibia, y estuve allí sin pensar en nada, sin dar gracias a nadie, sin alegrarme siquiera de haber alcanzado a fuerza de voluntad, de esperanza y de implacable deseo de vicir, un pedazo de playa silencionsa y desconocida".

El relato completo se puede leer aquí.