Written World How Literature Shaped Civilization

The story of literature in 16 acts, from Alexander the Great and the Iliad to ebooks and Harry Potter, this engaging book brings together remarkable people and surprising events to show how writing shaped cultures, religions, and the history of the world.

In this groundbreaking book, Martin Puchner leads us on a remarkable journey through time and around the globe to reveal the powerful role stories and literature have played in creating the world we have today. Puchner introduces us to numerous visionaries as he explores 16 foundational texts selected from more than 4,000 years of world literature —from the Iliad to J. K. Rowling — and reveals how writing has inspired the rise and fall of empires and nations, the spark of philosophical and political ideas, and the birth of religious beliefs. Indeed literature has touched the lives of generations and changed the course of history.

At the heart of this book are works, some long-lost and rediscovered, that have shaped history and civilization: the first written masterpiece, the Epic of Gilgamesh; Ezra's creation of the Hebrew Bible as scripture; the teachings of Buddha, Confucius, Socrates, and Jesus; and the first great novel in world literature, The Tale of Genji, written by a Japanese woman known as Murasaki. Visiting Baghdad, Puchner tells about Scheherazade and the stories of One Thousand and One Nights, and in the Americas, we watch the astonishing survival of the Maya epic Popol Vuh. Cervantes, who invented the modern novel, battles pirates both real (when he is taken prisoner) and literary (when a fake sequel to Don Quixote is published). We learn of Benjamin Franklin's pioneering work as a media entrepreneur, watch Goethe discover world literature in Sicily, and follow the rise in influence of The Communist Manifesto. We visit Troy, Pergamum, and China, and we speak with Nobel laureates Derek Walcott in the Caribbean and Orhan Pamuk in Istanbul, as well as the wordsmiths of the oral epic Sunjata in West Africa.

Throughout The Written World, Puchner's delightful narrative also chronicles the inventions — writing technologies, the printing press, the book itself — that have shaped religion, politics, commerce, people, and history. In a book that Elaine Scarry has praised as "unique and spellbinding," Puchner shows how literature turned our planet into a written world.

"A unique and spellbinding book...Martin Puchner's dramatic storytelling leads us through the mazes and underworlds of civilization at key moments when it is being built or unbuilt. The Written World shows the way 'great books' — and the alphabets, clay tablets, and printing presses by which they were spread — provided both the rudder and the sails for humanity's voyage across vast oceans of time." Elaine Scarry, author of Naming Thy Name: Cross Talk in Shakespeare's Sonnets

"The Written World is not only an expansive, exuberant survey of the central importance of literature in human culture but also a great adventure story — a story of letters and paper and rocket ships, of ruthless conquerors and elegant court ladies and middle-class entrepreneurs, of the will to power and the dream of freedom. Leading the reader across a vast landscape of space and time, Martin Puchner is the perfect companion and guide." Stephen Greenblatt, author of The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

"Martin Puchner creates a gripping intellectual odyssey." Publishers Weekly

"From Mesopotamia to the moon, The Written World is an imaginative, informative, and ingenious history of civilization in the form of a narrative of what people have written and read over the last 4,000 years." Louis Menand, author of The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America

The story of literature in seventeen acts, from Alexander the Great and The Iliad to J. K. Rowling and Harry Potter, this wonderful book combines biography, history, and stories from literature to show how the written word has had the power to shape civilizations throughout time.

The story of how literature shaped world history, in sixteen acts--from Alexander the Great and the Iliad to Don Quixote and Harry Potter

In this groundbreaking book, Martin Puchner leads us on a remarkable journey through time and around the globe to reveal the powerful role stories and literature have played in creating the world we have today. Puchner introduces us to numerous visionaries as he explores sixteen foundational texts selected from more than four thousand years of world literature and reveals how writing has inspired the rise and fall of empires and nations, the spark of philosophical and political ideas, and the birth of religious beliefs. Indeed, literature has touched the lives of generations and changed the course of history.

At the heart of this book are works, some long-lost and rediscovered, that have shaped civilization: the first written masterpiece, the Epic of Gilgamesh; Ezra's Hebrew Bible; the teachings of Buddha, Confucius, Socrates, and Jesus; and the first great novel in world literature, The Tale of Genji, written by a Japanese woman known as Murasaki. Visiting Baghdad, Puchner tells of Scheherazade and the stories of One Thousand and One Nights, and in the Americas we watch the astonishing survival of the Maya epic Popol Vuh. Cervantes, who invented the modern novel, battles pirates both real (when he is taken prisoner) and literary (when a fake sequel to Don Quixote is published). We learn of Benjamin Franklin's pioneering work as a media entrepreneur, watch Goethe discover world literature in Sicily, and follow the rise in influence of The Communist Manifesto. We visit Troy, Pergamum, and China, and we speak with Nobel laureates Derek Walcott in the Caribbean and Orhan Pamuk in Istanbul, as well as the wordsmiths of the oral epic Sunjata in West Africa.

Throughout The Written World, Puchner's delightful narrative also chronicles the inventions--writing technologies, the printing press, the book itself--that have shaped religion, politics, commerce, people, and history. In a book that Elaine Scarry has praised as "unique and spellbinding," Puchner shows how literature turned our planet into a written world.

"Well worth a read, to find out how come we read."--Margaret Atwood, via Twitter

"A gripping intellectual odyssey."--Publishers Weekly

"An expansive, exuberant survey of the central importance of literature in human culture but also a great adventure story."--Stephen Greenblatt, author of The Swerve

The story of literature in sixteen acts--from Homer to Harry Potter, including The Tale of Genji, Don Quixote, The Communist Manifesto, and how they shaped world history

In this groundbreaking book, Martin Puchner leads us on a remarkable journey through time and around the globe to reveal the powerful role stories and literature have played in creating the world we have today. Through sixteen foundational texts selected from more than four thousand years of world literature, he reveals how writing has inspired the rise and fall of empires and nations, the spark of philosophical and political ideas, and the birth of religious beliefs.

We meet Murasaki, a lady from eleventh-century Japan who wrote the first novel, The Tale of Genji, and follow the adventures of Miguel de Cervantes as he battles pirates, both seafaring and literary. We watch Goethe discover world literature in Sicily, and follow the rise in influence of The Communist Manifesto. Puchner takes us to Troy, Pergamum, and China, speaks with Nobel laureates Derek Walcott in the Caribbean and Orhan Pamuk in Istanbul, as well as the wordsmiths of the oral epic Sunjata in West Africa. This delightful narrative also chronicles the inventions--writing technologies, the printing press, the book itself--that have shaped people, commerce, and history. In a book that Elaine Scarry has praised as "unique and spellbinding," Puchner shows how literature turned our planet into a written world.

Praise for The Written World

"It's with exhilaration . . . that one hails Martin Puchner's book, which asserts not merely the importance of literature but its all-importance. . . . Storytelling is as human as breathing."--The New York Times Book Review

"Puchner has a keen eye for the ironies of history. . . . His ideal is 'world literature, ' a phrase he borrows from Goethe. . . . The breathtaking scope and infectious enthusiasm of this book are a tribute to that ideal."--The Sunday Times (U.K.)

"Enthralling . . . Perfect reading for a long chilly night . . . Puchner] brings these works and their origins to vivid life."--BookPage

"Well worth a read, to find out how come we read."--Margaret Atwood, via Twitter

Martin Puchner is the Byron and Anita Wien Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Harvard University. His prize-winning books range from philosophy to the arts, and his bestselling six-volume Norton Anthology of World Literature and HarvardX MOOC (massive open online course) have brought 4,000 years of literature to students across the globe. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In the early '90s, I found myself on Mount Athos, an island in northern Greece that belongs to the Orthodox Church and is closed to tourists and female mammals — including human ones....I took a rickety ferry to the island, along with a handful of black-robed, bearded monks. Once there, I hiked from ancient monastery to ancient monastery, enjoying the feeling of being in a real-life Name of the Rose...

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