Before Class: Chapter Three & Four

1. Sum up the reading in your own words in 1 paragraph.
The chapter on Asian contributions talked about how the Chinese calligraphy changed styles over the many years. Starting with chiaku-wen or "bone-and-shell" script then the next phase was called chin-wen or "bronze" script, the third phase was hsiao chuan or "small-seal" style and the final step in the evolution of Chinese calligraphy is chen-shu or "regular" style. The earlier styles were pictograph like and were easily understood while the "regular" style was more of an abstract form. Chinese characters are logograms, which are graphic designs that represent an entire word. The chapter also talks about the invention of paper, which was supposedly invented by Ts'ai Lun. And it talks about how paper was made and that the process didn't really change until the nineteenth century. The remainder of the chapter taked about printing and the different forms of prinitng and how it has changed.

Chapter four was dealing with illuminated manuscripts, which were popular from the ending of the Roman Empire to the beginning of the Renaissance. The production of this illuminated manuscripts were time consuming and costly. Celtic book design used intricate geometric design and shimmering colors in the production of their manuscripts. Two books that were mentioned in great detail were the Book of Kells and the Book of Durrow, which were amazingly beautiful illuminated manuscripts that showed the use of uncials and half-uncials. Half-uncials were the precursor to lower case letters. During the reign of Charlemagne standardization of page layout, writing styles, and decoration was attempted. Spanish manuscripts had a great deal of Arab influence, since the Moors mingled Christian traditions with Islamic motifs. The chapter then talks about the evolution of Romanesque manuscripts into Gothic manuscipts, and the difference in those manuscripts from others. A little section of the chapter was dedicated to Islamic, Judaic, and late medieval illuminated manuscripts.

2. Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading.
One thing I found really interesting in chapter 3 was how the Chinese calligraphy changed throughout the centuries. But it was still basically the same thing just made more abstract and less pictograph like.

Something I found interesting from chapter 4 was that there was so many different styles of creating illuminated manuscripts. And how each region and time period had their own way and style of manuscripts.

3. State at least one question you have after the reading. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.) Chapter 3: Why was movable type so hard to get people to use in China? Why was it so hard to use?
Chapter 4: What did the colors used for manuscripts look like? How vibrant were they? And why did Florentius ask the readers to "remember the unworthy Floentius."?