La véridique histoire de l’arobase
On the occasion of the publication of La véridique histoire de l’arobase, published at Éditions de l'École nationale des chartes - PSL, the Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme is organizing an evening presentation of the book.
This session of Livres en dialogue will bring together the author of the book Marc Smith, and Stéphanie Duncan, journalist at France Inter.
After the discussion, you will have the opportunity to ask our guest any questions you may have. The meeting will be followed by a moment of conviviality.
The book
The arobase, today's ubiquitous symbol of electronic communication, is defined by a universal form - @ - and by infinitely varied names in different languages. Its origins, lost in the mists of time, have given rise to multiple and contradictory explanations, confusing the history of a trace, its functions and its designations. For the first time, Marc Smith reconstructs the history of the arobase, from the Middle Ages to the present day, as both an unusual and exemplary case of the evolution of written signs that accompanies the constant change of societies and techniques.
The paradoxical application of the palaeographic method to the arobase brings us back to the fundamental questions of the history of writing: the emergence of a form, its stabilization, its place in the graphic system, its circulation in space and time; from informal to formal, from document to book, from the pen to copper and lead, and from typing to computers. Questions where technical data intersect, but also the changing functions of writing and all the movements that stir our societies.
Our guests
Stéphanie Duncan
After studying history, political science, theater and singing, Stéphanie Duncan took part in several programs on France Inter, France Culture and France Musique.
Marc Smith is Professor of Palaeography at the École nationale des chartes - PSL, Director of Studies at the École pratique des hautes études - PSL and President of the Comité international de paléographie latine. His research focuses on the evolution of the Latin alphabet under long-term cultural, technical and cognitive conditions. He is currently working on a history of the graphic models used to teach writing in Europe from the Renaissance to the early 19th century.
Le Comptoir
1er étage de la FMSH
54 boulevard Raspail, Paris 6
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