Ian F. Svenonius - Against the Written Word: Toward a Universal Illiteracy

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means, including mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the publisher.

Acknowledgments/thank you to Johnny Temple, Guy Picciotto, Rich Morel, Frances Stark, Tim Svenonius, Alexandra Cabral, Michelle Mae, and Experimental Jetset, for production assistance, help, and guidance. Made with the cooperation of the Alphabet Reform Committee.

Published by Akashic Books

2023 Ian F. Svenonius

ISBN: 978-1-63614-080-3

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022933232

First printing

Cover design courtesy of Alexandra Cabral

Letterpress on cover by T. Svenonius

Illustrations by I.F. Svenonius

Author photograph opposite courtesy of Michelle Mae

Horse courtesy of Clif Taylor and Tasha Bundy

Author photograph courtesy of Alexandra Cabral

Babylon graphic in Part IV by Experimental Jetset

Interior layout by Sohrab Habibion and Aaron Petrovich

Some of the content of this book has been presented or published before: I Survived Reeducation Camp was originally presented as a workshop at a Southern California music festival; I Remember Frankenstein was produced as a play at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles; S.T.E.M. was presented as an electric lecture and light show at the Whitney Museum in New York; and Manifesto of the Peoples Provisional Army for Alphabet Reform was published as a part of I.F. Svenonius and the Experimental Jetset Groups Alphabet Reform Committee Headquarters installation at the Volksbhne on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin. Earlier versions of some essays were also featured in the Cellophane Flag periodical (Radical Elite Press).

Akashic Books

Brooklyn, New York

akashicbooks.com

I.F. Svenonius

The owner of this book is in no way responsible for its incendiary and out-of-control content. It was merely a gift which they, out of politeness, felt they could not refuse, and they only keep it out of a sense of obligation or maybe some perverse, unwholesome fascination.

Signed,

The Author

You may have noticed that this book is slightly damaged, either from a fingerprint, a tiny smudge, a dinged corner, or some combination thereof.

Such blemishes, though normally grounds for exchanging a book, are actually an integraland intentionaldesign aspect of Against the Written Word, the antiliteracy tract youre holding in your hands.

Against the Written Word ushers in an exciting new world of illiteracy, enforced by antiliterates dedicated to animalism. In this world, the tactile will be made paramount again; messages will no longer consist of letters, texts, or graffiti, but smudges, scuffs, and smells, which people will leave as markings to one another.

This copy of Against the Written Word may have been thumbed through already, by some curious thrill seeker, an on-the-run desperado, or even a potential lover. The preliterate signals they left on this bookwhether they be smells, smudges, or crumpled cornerscould be useful to you in locating a like-minded community in the postliterate era we are embarking on.

Therefore, while these sorts of irregularities would normally induce dissatisfaction and warrant a return, in this particular case they are a vital component of the book; possibly its most salient feature. In fact, if this book isnt slightly marred or disfigured, exchange it for one that is.

Sincerely,

The Committee for Alphabet Reform

Toward a Universal IIIiteracy

Ian F. Svenonius

AKASHIC BOOKS

Dedicated to the barbarians,who are unable to read this book

I, the owner of this bookAgainst the Written Word: Toward a Universal Illiteracyam in no way responsible for its content, and in no manner do I necessarily subscribe to its wild conceits.

In fact, I only keep it around because Ive been too lazy to dispose of it, or maybe I havent gotten around to looking at it.

In the latter scenario, I dont even know what it is or how it got here.

Or perhaps I thought it was a bit of fluff; some sort of satirical text to be read aloud to ones lover at bedtime or for amusement at a party. If this book is found dog-eared on my bedside table or thumbed through next to my beach blanket, then someone may have planted it there to incriminate me.

Finally, if someone who resembles me has been seen passing out copies of Against the Written Word to their colleagues and acquaintances, Im not sure who that is; maybe a distant cousin or look-alike.

Signed,

________________________

Owner, this copy of AGAINST THE WRITTEN WORD

Wow! People really love this book youre holding in your hands.

They are going nuts for it. Its a kind of mass hysteria, with cuckoo reactions and accolades from those people known to be in the know. Yes, normally reticent individuals are heaping it with hallelujahs. They are burying it in praise. Its kind of a trip. Lets listen in:

Critical Praise for

AGAINST THE WRITTEN WORD: TOWARD A UNIVERSAL ILLITERACY

by I.F. Svenonius

Finally, a book that will put an end to reading, writing, and arithmetic.

Caspar Hasbin

This book shows us that the written word is the rotten worda trick, a ploy, a device to oppress.

Guy de Boardwalk

I will tell you what I think about this book in person instead of in writing because writing, my dear, is just more of the same cynical propaganda.

Eleanor Klutz

This is a book which will solve mankinds condition of alienation, by going to the root of the matter: literacy itself. After the systems of alphabets and reading are smashed, then we shall confront the other foul systems that plague mankind. All hierarchies will be overturned. The sun will rise instead of fall. The moon will come out in the day. Babies will raise their parents, and food will taste people.

Penelope Pittstop

The alphabet is dead! We are now liberated from books and reading forever!! Watch out, math; numbers are next!!!

Frogman Mo

Hallelujah! With this book comes liberation. Liberation from: the alphabet, books, magazines, ad copy, billboards, T-shirts with words on them, social media, manifestos, screeds, broadsheets, liner notes, acknowledgments, back-cover blurbs, fortune cookies, daily horoscopes, draft notices, passed notes in class, subtitles, librettos, essays, op-ed columns, PSAs on the sides of buses, government travel advisories, gift cards, bathroom-stall graffiti, pamphlets, text messages, ancient manuscripts, tomes, slogans scrawled in blood on the wall, sanctimonious running-dog journalists who are bootlicks to warmongering newspapers owned and operated by the military-industrial complex, and all the other deranged propaganda utilized against us by the ruling class. This is the book to end all books, vital to the next stage of human development. We relinquish reading gladly, just as mankind once relinquished serfdom and human sacrifice.