Calligraphy: An Ancient Art

"Calligraphy" comes from a Greek term meaning "beautiful writing." There are more fonts in calligraphy than there are on your computer. (Random fact: Most computer fonts were actually invented by calligraphers.) It is most often associated with the works of monks in the Middle Ages, but its roots are far deeper than that. Technically, its history traces down from all of the ancient forms of writing, from Egyptian hieroglyphics to Chinese characters to the symbols on the bottom of Phoenician shipping products.

Because of my love for random facts and histories, I took it upon myself to become an expert on the subject. (I took a class about a year ago. Of the thousands of fonts that are out there, I can now do two or three.) I am really not sure how to describe calligraphy. I once heard it called "the dance of the pen." As much as I like the imagery, I am not sure it really gets at the essence of the art. There is so much concentration involved. As my instructor once said, you work on calligraphy in the hope that you can eventually produce something that makes you pause and say "Wow. That is what a letter is supposed to look like."

To an outsider, it may seem like a lot of work for nothing. I do not think so. I have never been able to enjoy a moment of true awe at my own work, but I still feel like I have been able to get inside the beauty of letters. Calligraphy makes letters, words, even entire pages come alive. I have always enjoyed looking at the work of ancient calligraphers. It seems three dimensional in comparison to the world of flat, mechanical print.

Look at the maps on Lord of the Rings, and compare them to the maps we use. We have so much information on ours, but they are flat and lifeless. They are only a tool, used for the sake of gaining information. The maps on Lord of the Rings are alive. Even though they were just made for a story, they have history. There may be less information, but the stuff that is there pulls you in. That is what calligraphy does. It shows you the life inside the letters, and it builds them together until you can finally see the thought they are trying to communicate.

I realize all of this sounds a bit poetic, or eccentric, or . . . something, but studying it really has changed the way that I look at writing. It shouldn't be such a big deal. After all, letters are meant to be in the background. We are supposed to be able to overlook them so that we can pay attention to the information that we need. Still, if I really like a story, I will reread it. The stories that I like the most have more to them that what you see initially. There is something beneath the surface, something deeper, something you don't notice the first time. Each time you return to the story, there is a new discovery to be made.

Calligraphy is like that. In the better fonts, the letters are so clear, well-balanced, and flow together so well that the mind can skip over them straight into the information it needs. But, even after you have the information, there is another level. Unlike most mechanical print, calligraphy is beautiful even if you are not paying attention to the information. Writing with it, I feel like I am continuing an ancient and glorious tradition. Really, calligraphy was the beginning of knowledge--before it, there was no way to record thought. A person could only know what he could personally remember. Calligraphy was invented as a way to preserve knowledge for its own sake. But, at the same time, the information was recorded in a form that was beautiful, just for the sake of being beautiful. It is the only art-form I know that can appeal directly to either the intellect or the imagination. And it is ancient, mysterious, and multi-faceted. What else can an arbitrary academic ask for?