Responding to Drucker

In Chapter 2 of The Visible Word, Drucker differentiates two areas within typographical experimentation. The first is visual arts, and the second is literature. In both of these areas, the word and image are used as representative, or symbolic. Symbolism really took off and had new meaning in 20^th century art.

One artist who really pushed the bounds of this was Stephane Mallarme. He helped to develop symbolism in his poetry, especially in his work “A Throw of the Dice”. This work had three main distinctions than other works of that time. Mallarme paid very close attention to his typographic forms, using one main, very simple, type, and paying close attention to the size of the font that he used. Finally, in a sense, he destroyed voicing in that project. “A Throw of the Dice” was not meant to be read aloud. In writing this work, Mallarme became torn between breaking away from traditional poetry (and moving toward absolute purity), and having an idea and making others understand it.

In the 20^th century, those that worked with typographical experimentation in both visual arts and literature paid close attention to the forma properties of their mechanism. More attention was paid to the individual parts of words and sentences, and yet attention was also paid to the sentence as a whole, the sound it created, or the way it looked on a page. The line took on new meaning. Color was added. The way things appeared on a page became very important in creating meaning.

What Drucker writes about in this reading initially does not really seem new or revolutionary, but after thinking about it for a while, the work struck me. When experimenting with typography, whether literary or visual (which, by the way, was a really nice distinction to make in the reading), tons and tons of thought was put into the pages of writing. When Mallarme was writing “A Throw of the Dice,” he was not satisfied with simply putting the words on the page and letting it be. He went back and changed letters, spacing between words, and their placement on the page until it was exactly the way he wanted it. In my own writing, I need to have the same mindset as Mallarme. I don’t want to be satisfied with simply completing the assignment or putting it down on paper (or in an animation, if you will). Going back and tweaking things, from spacing between words to the amount of time they stay on screen or fade away will make all the difference in the presentation. Mallarme was not happy to just have his thoughts down on paper. He struggled to convey his message in the perfect way. When he wrote, he wanted to move toward absolute purity (according to Drucker) in his writings. Purity, and perhaps perfection, are not bad goals to have in any aspect of life. When using it in reference to writing, it might not be completely achievable (purity and perfection in art can be such a relative term), but it gives us all something to work towards and not stop until we reach.