The Written Word

Paper Summary:

The breakthrough that opened literature to the masses occurred in 1456 when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. This invention allowed publishers to produce literary manuscripts and documents at a much more massive scale and at cheaper prices. The paper shows that authors began to make their works more widely readable, utilizing a more common language. And so, the use of vernacular language in literature was born. The paper examines the history of vernacular use in written works, examining in particular the history of American literature.

From the Paper:

"Vernacular tradition as employed in literature serves to give voice to a subset that may not have one. As discussed in Liberating Voices, Jones is quoted to say that the, "foundation of every literature tradition is oral, whether it is visible or invisible in the text". Jones goes on to explain that vernacular tradition is commonly utilized when an author of a misunderstood and often oppressed population is writing about his or her culture through the use of fictionalized examples. Of particular note is the African-American population."

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