The K-Effect: Romanization, Modernism, and the Timing and Spacing of Print Culture

The K-Effect explores how the Roman alphabet has functioned as a standardizing global model for modern print culture, investigating the history and ongoing effects of romanization through the works of Joseph Conrad and others. It examines a variety of different cases of romanization, such as the historical shift from Arabic script to romanized print form in writing Malay, the politicization of language and script reforms across Russia and Central Europe, the role of Chinese debates about romanization in shaping global transformations in print media, and the place of romanization between ancient Sanskrit models of language and script and contemporary digital forms of coding.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 05 December 2023
Publisher: Fordham University Press

The K-Effect delves into the profound impact of the Roman alphabet as a global model for modern print culture. Through a comprehensive exploration of the history and ongoing effects of romanization, author Christopher GoGwilt offers a fresh perspective on modernism, examining it from a global and comparative standpoint. The book explores the intricate and multifaceted effects of romanized transliteration, examining its role in both the service of colonization and as a tool for decolonization. This dualistic effect, characterized by its simultaneous standardization and destabilization, is succinctly captured by the letter K, which indexes shifting hierarchies in the relationship between languages and scripts.

The book traces the evolution of this K-effect through the linguistic work of transliteration and its aesthetic organization in transnational modernism. It examines a diverse range of cases of romanization, including the historical transition from Arabic script to romanized print forms in Malay writing, the politicization of language and script reforms across Russia and Central Europe, the influence of Chinese debates on romanization in shaping global transformations in print media, and the interplay between ancient Sanskrit models of language and script and contemporary digital forms of coding. Each case study is carefully analyzed in comparison with other notable writers such as James Joyce, Lu Xun, Franz Kafka, and Pramoedya Ananta Toer.

The K-Effect stands as the first sustained cultural study of romanization, presenting a groundbreaking approach to assessing the multi-lingual and multi-script coordinates of modern print culture. By delving into the complexities of romanization, the book offers valuable insights into the ways in which languages and scripts have shaped the world we live in today.

Weight: 394g
Dimension: 152 x 228 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781531505080