The Importance of Writing

Writing can transcribe the words of speech, but it can never capture intonation and other clues to a speaker's intention. David olson thinks that writing is ambiguous and open to conflicting interpretations has had an important bearing on the history of reading. In classical greek civilization, the feeling that writing could not properly stand alone kept it closely tied to oral performance. During the christian middle ages, reading remained an encounter with the living word. The turning point, david olson believes came with the protestant reformation.